Full Circle Book I: Play
by Obsidian Buterfly
Summary: It wasn't enough that he was stuck traveling with a group that comprised of a lovesick puppy, a clumsy princess, three morons and an annoying manju bun- No, he had to pretend to be engaged to one of those morons because the other morons couldn't pass up an opportunity to get on his nerves. Previously Titled: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
1. Prologue

_**A/N: Hello everyone. I am apologizing for the inconvenience in advance but I am going to rewrite the chapters for this fic since I was reading it the other day for some reason I didn't really like the way it had turned out. Don't worry the plot wont be changing and most of the events will remain the same but it would be better if you reread the chapters as I put them up since I will be deleting the old ones and putting up the new ones, this time with proper titles! ^_^**_

_**So without further ado, please go ahead and enjoy the prologue. This ought to give you some idea of where I am gonna head with the fic.**_

_The sound of dripping water echoed across the giant cavern._

_Dead bodies littered the flooded ground. Giant columns and slabs of stone lay about broken, some with blood staining their entirety while others had cracks and burns marring their once glorious formation. The clang of swords clashing broke the otherwise morbid serenity, reverberating and resonating as more clanks added to the noise._

_In the shallow water near one such column lay the body of a boy of seventeen, facedown. The shallow pool of water had turned to a light shade of crimson around his body as blood seeped from a hole in his back. One of his arms was bent at an impossible angle with a bloodied bone poking out of the torn flesh. The fingers of his right hand were curled around the hilt of a broken sword, the shattered pieces of metal glinting like rubies beneath the water as they reflected the light._

_His messy, chocolate-colored hair fell into his closed eyes, almost completely hiding the bleeding gash on his forehead. Only part of the right side of his face was above the water level with his nose completely submerged. _

_It was quite clear that the teen was dead._

_Next to him, on a broken column, was a girl with hair the color of caramel. One of her hands was outstretched towards the boy, slumped in the water beneath her as her clouded, jade eyes stared unseeingly at his face. Like the boy, there was a gaping wound on her body, but this one in the form of a deep cut in her side. Her skin was pale, covered in scratches and burn marks, and her dress was slowly turning a shade of maroon from the blood that was slowly seeping down the carvings in the broken column towards the water, flowing outwards in swirling patterns of bright inky red._

_A few feet away from them, a bionic arm stuck out from under a pile of rocks, once again the water turning the shade of a translucent cherry from the blood of the person buried underneath the rocks. Near the wreckage, the blade of a dragon-hilted sword was buried deep in the throat of a man with long, dark hair, a pair of broken spectacles lying under the water next to his face._

_At the very back of the cave, where the light reached the least, lay another body, this one belonging to a blond in his early twenties with enchanting blue-eyes. He laid spread eagle on his back, a clawed hand sticking out of the left side of his chest, his face frozen in an expression of shocked disbelief as his blank, sky colored eyes staring at the high roof of the cavern unseeingly._

_A scream of pain echoed and rebounded off the walls of the cave. The water rippled as though feeling the agony of owner of that voice. A brilliant light exploded near the roof of the cave, the form of an auburn haired girl screaming and thrashing at its heart._

"_NO!" a male voice cried out in desperation, "SAKURA!"_

_The girl named Sakura only screamed in response, her whole body shaking and contorting as the blinding light seemed to tear at her flesh and soul. Her body began to glow inside the golden light, disintegrating into cherry blossoms, the petals whirling around in a spinning circle inside the light as her body kept on falling apart._

"_Bastard!" the male voice howled in rage as a chocolate-haired boy shot towards a monocled man wielding a sword with the hilt that resembled a bat._

"_Face it, O descendent of Reed, you have lost." The man laughed in a tired voice as he deflected the sword aimed at his heart. "The one you turned back time for is dying right before your eyes, and you can't do anything to stop it."_

"_RAITEI SHOURAI!" Lightening emerged from the tip of the boy's blade and shot of towards the monocle- wearing man, who erected a magical shield to protect himself from harm._

"_Five innocent lives were lost in this quest of yours," the man continued._

"_Shut up!" the boy cried, angry tears streaming down his scratched and bruised face as he spun around to land a ruthless kick. Taking the man by surprise, he knocked his enemy to the flooded ground, thrusting his sword at the man's chest._

_The sharp blade smoothly sliced through flesh and bone. The man choked on his own blood as it sprayed from his mouth, dribbling down his cleft-chin as he hacked and coughed._

"_You took everything away!" The boy screamed in blind rage as he pulled the sword out before stabbing his enemy with it once again. "You took them all away from me!"_

"_The witch of dimensions… is not here to help you… this time around, boy." The man panted, ignoring the blood and pain as he locked his gaze with the teen's. "Do you wish… to do it all over… once more?"_

_The teen's body froze in the motion of pulling out the blade._

"_What… will it be… Syaoran?"_

_Sakura's scream rang out in the cave again as the man gave him a deranged grin._

"_Maybe you can… save them all… this time around?"_

_The boy's amber-eyed gaze travelled across the entirety of the cave, taking in the broken and bleeding corpses of his friends and loved ones as sakura petals began to rain from the roof of the cavern._

"_What will it be…" the man repeated as life began to leave his dark eyes, "O descendent of Reed?"_


	2. What's Next Princesses &Talking Rabbits?

**A/N: Alright, so I reread the chapters I have put up so far and came to the realization that the few chapters in the beginning seriously suck. Especially the conversations. So I am once again, re-rewriting it but the plot is still the same.**

**But hopefully, now, at the very least, this won't look like it was written by-**

**Kurogane: an amateur?**

**Me: What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to be locked in a closet.**

**Kurogane: That was for the A/N of 'Shattered Secrets'. I'm not trapped in this one.**

**Me: *sighs* Alright. Fine. Whatever. I'm lacking my usual energy today so I won't be bantering with you. I'll just let the readers know a few things about this fic.**

**It's loosely going to follow the manga storyline though there will be newer worlds which will replace a few of the ones visited by the group in the manga. But there is a reason for that. Also there will be two OCs travelling with the group, and while I will switch around POVs to the TRC gang as well, majority of the fic might be told in the OCs's POV. Oh and you might see a few crossovers characters here and there but that is mostly because I'm just being lazy to create more OCs. *shot***

**Everything that will happen in this fic will have a reason that will be revealed sooner or later. I'm going to try my level best to clarify everything, though if you have any questions regarding it, please, don't hesitate to ask. I won't bite. ;)**

**And now, please read and enjoy. Don't forget to review.**

-0-

_Thoughts or flashbacks_

"Normal speech"

**Chapter 1:**

"Ugh! I can't believe it." Madiha groaned in disgust as she scanned through all the channels for the umpteenth time. "A hundred channels and I can't find _anything_ to watch."

"Calm down," her raven-haired friend spoke in a placating tone as she entered the den with a bowl of spaghetti, "I'm sure you'll find something to watch."

"Yeah right," The first girl snorted. "Easier said than done." She began her ritual of scanning the channels once more. "I'm so damn bored, and nothing good is on." She threw the remote control on the couch with a sigh as she closed her eyes. "I seriously hate this. Why couldn't my parent have taken me along with Dani?"

"Maybe because we have our exams coming up in about a week's time?" The other girl answered as she loaded the noodles into two separate plates.

"I know that, Xahra," she groaned, feeling the couch dip as her friend settle in next to her. Opening her soft brown eyes, she took the plate the other girl offered. "I remember perfectly well what my beloved mother said to me while she was packing for the wedding. '_I'm sorry Madiha, but you can't go to your cousin's wedding. You need to prepare for your upcoming exams. Wasting time is not an option for you.'_ As if she doesn't know I never study until the night before the exams anyways."

"Maybe she was hoping for a miracle?" Xahra suggested helpfully, but the effect was ruined by the silly grin on her face. "Besides, it could have been much worse."

"Oh, yeah?" Madiha quirked a brow in mock curiosity.

"Yeah," she nodded, ignoring her friend's mocking tone as she picked up the remote previously thrown by the brown-eyed girl. "I mean, just imagine. What if your parents had left you with that freaky neighbor of yours?" she said as she scanned through the channels herself.

"Well, I suppose you do have a point," Madiha said thoughtfully, twirling the fork in her plate to wrap some noodles around it, "Your place _is_ a lot less creepy. Well," she added as an afterthought, "maybe except your bedroom."

"Hey!" Xahra cried indignantly, "I'll have you know that my room is a _lot_ better than that junkyard you call a room."

"Whatever you say." The other quipped with a teasing grin.

"So," the lavender-eyed girl turned her attention on Madiha after a while, "When are your parents going to return?"

"In a week. Why?"Madiha replied casually as she looked at the girl, "You tired of having me over already?"

"Nah, I was just thinking about something."

"What?"

"Well, your parents are gone for the wedding, and my parents are gone on their business trip," Xahra spoke as she turned her head back towards the T.V set.

So?" Madiha asked indifferently, also returning to watching the movie.

"So, that means we get a whole week of freedom," Xahra replied, looking at her with twinkling eyes. "No parents, no rules!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Seriously, you sound like a little kid that has never been left alone at home on their own before." The brown-eyed girl spoke without much interest, keeping her gaze fixed on the screen. "Act your age for once."

"I always act my age," Xahra huffed, crossing her arms in indignation. "Sometimes I just find it more fun not to."

"Sometimes?" Madiha looked at the girl with a raised brow.

Her dark-haired friend was about to retort when they heard a static noise coming from the TV. Looking in the object's direction, they discovered that the screen had died out. Not a second later, the lights flickered before everything was immersed in darkness.

"Oh, great," groaned Madiha. "A power outage."

"Don't move," Xahra instructed as she climbed to her feet and made her way across the room in darkness. "I'll go get the candles."

Madiha sat there in silence, patiently waiting for the other girl to return with some source of light. She could hear her rummaging about the closet for a while before she reappeared with a lit candle stick in her hand.

"Okay…" the brunette drawled as her friend set the candle on the glass table top right next to her plate before settling back in her seat. "Now what?"

"We could play this new game I bought at the funfair today." Xahra suggested instantly. Then, without waiting for her friend's reply, the raven-haired girl ran to her bedroom with the candle, leaving the former in darkness once more.

Five minutes later, Xahra reappeared with a flat wooden box tucked under her arm. Repeating the earlier motion of setting the candle back on the table, she dumped the game down in Madiha's lap.

Frowning in annoyance, the brunette looked down at the box, studying it in the dim light of the candle. She could tell that it was very old, as could easily be seen from the faded and peeling-off paint on the carvings of the box.

"This is the one that you bought from that weird woman, right?" Madiha asked as she picked it up to take a closer look. The wood felt warm beneath her fingers, as though if it had been lying in the sun for hours. She ran her finger on the top of the wooden lid where a metal plate was fixed with a strange feather embossed in the top right corner.

The name was written in a strange, cursive sort of writing: "_Feather Chronicles."_

"Feather Chronicles...?" Madiha repeated, her voice betraying her reluctance to play such a silly sounding game. She looked up to see her friend pouting at her, silently blackmailing her with puppy-dog eyes. Sighing, the former turned the box over to see the base. Another metal plate was affixed to the wood here.

"How much did you pay for it?" she asked, without paying much attention to her answer. She had just noticed that, even though the language was weirdly symbolic, she could still understand the small note written the bottom of the plate.

_For those who love Adventure, Fantasy & Magic:_

_Help the princess of the desert gather her memories scattered amongst numerous dimensions._

"Wow…" Madiha started, shaking her head in disbelief, "talk about using your imagination. There is no way I am playing something _this_ stupid." She lightly tossed the box back to her friend. The wooden object almost landing on top of the burning candle but Xahra caught it just in time, gripping it tightly to make sure that it wasn't anywhere near the flames, before she looked desperately back up.

"But Maddy, come on. Please?" the lavender-eyed girl begged, enhancing her innocent, puppy-eyed look. Madiha turned to glare at her, though in the end she sat back down with a dejected sigh. "I _cannot_ believe that we are friends," she said, shaking her head. 'How in the world did I end up with you, again?'

"Want me to remind you?' Xahra grinned as she excitedly opened the wooden box. A weird sort of maze was carved into the wood with some sort of glowing metal embedded in it. Her grin changed to a look of pure awe. This thing was amazingly beautiful, almost magical.

Madiha on the other hand could not see what was so special about this old piece of wood.

"Let's just get this thing over with so I can get some sleep," Madiha said, waving a hand in front of Xahra's eyes to get her attention away from the board. "How are we supposed to play it?"

"The woman said that we just had to push the buttons on its side to start the game," Xahra replied, mesmerized by the maze.

"What? It doesn't have any dice, or something?" Madiha asked as she got off the couch and sat on the floor.

"Nope," Xahra replied, mimicking her friend's actions.

"Okay, fine, does it have any rules?' Madiha sighed for the umpteenth time. She had been irritated by her friend's behavior from the beginning but now…this was getting just plain annoying.

"Just a warning," Xahra said, finally coming back to herself. She read from a worn out age old yellow piece of parchment. "Begin this game only if you intend to finish it. You can't abandon it halfway through."

"Right… Scary warning," the brunette laughed, "Maybe they should have added something like 'don't try to leave before then or the universe will be blown up by a crazy witch who happens to be your best friend.'"

"And you said the game was lame," Xahra said tonelessly.

"Oh shut up." Madiha rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so all we have to do is push these buttons, I guess," Xahra waved her hand at the two buttons on either sides of the board. They pressed them simultaneously but nothing happened.

"Okay, we pushed the buttons…Now what?" Maddy raised her brow. No sooner had she said this, that a strange multicolored light started emanating from the board. The wooden boxed rumbled slightly before the light vanished.

There was silence for a couple of seconds before the board started shaking once more, slightly at first but getting more and more violent.

"What the hell?" Madiha exclaimed, staring at the object in wide-eyed horror. A multicolored smoke began escaping from the metal plates, giving off an enchanting, almost magical glow as it slowly began to spread all around them. As it enveloped the girls, their bodies began dissolving in the places where it touched them.

"What's going on?" Xahra cried in a panic-stricken voice.

"I was hoping you'd tell me. You bought the stupid game!" Madiha responded, trying to sound brave, but truth be told, she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Or maybe she had already had a nervous breakdown from utter boredom, and now she was having hallucinations, or something?

The room vanished from sight just as they were completely surrounded by the strange smoke. She could feel her friend's presence close by, but it was impossible to see anything around her with darkness was pressing in on her from all sides. Just as suddenly as it had started, it all stopped. The smoke vanished and the girls were assaulted by rain.

Madiha picked herself off the wet grass in one swift move and began brushing off her clothes.

Wait a second…

Wet grass?

Madiha blinked hard as she took in her surroundings. She was getting drenched by the rain in someone's backyard. Beside her, Xahra stood with her mouth hanging open as she gaped at the tall buildings surrounding them. But, she was not the only other person getting wet in this place. There were several more people. Two young girls who appeared to be aroundthe age of ten stood behind a beautiful woman with a voluptuous body. She was wearing a quite revealing dress. _ Wonder who made their hair?_ She thought while inwardly smirking at the two girls. The woman was currently looking at someone behind her. Madiha turned her head to see who it was, but midway there, it snapped back to the front. This woman had red eyes.

_How can someone have red eyes?_

The red eyed woman raised her head to look at the sky. "Here they come," She spoke softly, apparently to herself.

Madiha followed her gaze, only to see a piece of the sky bulge inwards, or downwards, actually. At the same time, she heard Xahra gasp. Her head whipped in her friend's direction.

There, right beside her, a piece of the ground was also bulging outwards. Seconds afterwards, two men stood right where the swirly bulges had been.

_I think I really am having a nervous breakdown. What the hell is going on here? Red eyed people, and swirly bursting bulges? What's next? Princesses and talking animals?_ Madiha thought in exasperation.

"Who the hell are you?" growled one of the men, while at the same time, the other one asked politely, "Are you the dimension witch?"

_**A/N: Man. This took so long to rewrite (sort of) ;)**_

_**Hopefully this will now be much better to read.**_

_**Oh and I'm gonna be deleting the rest of the chapters till the time I put up their rewritten versions. Sorry for the inconvenience.**_

_**Ciao!**_


	3. Off You Go

**A/N:The rewritten version of ch 2.**

**Enjoy!**

_**Chapter 2**_

_"Who the hell are you?" growled one of the men, while at the same time, the other one asked politely, "Are you the dimension witch?"_

The two exchanged glances, but Madiha's attention was drawn to a young, panic-stricken boy who was just a few feet behind the two men and her friend. In his arms was a frail looking girl whom he held onto as though his life depended on it. His deep, amber eyes were wide with worry, but there was a determined frown on his face.

He was wearing a green cape and goggles, and appeared to be fourteen at most. The girl appeared to be the same age as the boy. Her unconscious form was donned in a strange kind of pale pink skirt and cape.

She turned her attention to the guy who had growled at that red-eyed woman and noticed that he was tall and handsome with tanned skin. His well-built, muscular form was dressed all in black, like some ancient Japanese ninja, complete with a cape, headpiece and a sword. This guy too, Madiha noticed, had red eyes.

_Weirder and weirder,_ She thought as her gaze moved towards the other guy who had appeared from the bulge in space.

He had a lanky frame, but Madiha admitted mentally that he was good-looking. This guy was a blond, with enchanting blue eyes and a warm smile gracing his features. He was dressed in a white fur coat**,** as though he had arrived there straight from the Arctic Circle.He was looking at the woman expectantly, the tip of his jeweled staff resting lightly on the ground.

"Please give me your names first?" The red eyed woman asked while extending her hand towards the group before her.

"How about you?" She pointed to the guy dressed like a ninja

"Me? I'm Kurogane…" he replied. His scowl deepened as he looked around at the tall skyscrapers surrounding them. "What is this place?"

_More like where is this place, I think._ Madiha thought as she, too, looked around. This was definitely nowhere near her hometown.

"It's called Japan," the woman replied calmly.

"Eh? I came from Japan!" He sounded perplexed as though trying to make sense of her answer. Everyone ignored the simultaneous exclamations of 'Japan?' from the two girls.

"A different one." The woman stated calmly as though it was no big deal.

_What the hell?_ Xahra's thoughts raced. _We can't really be in Japan… Can we?_

"I don't understand." Kurogane growled, sounding confused. The woman ignored him.

"What about you two?" She quirked a brow at the two girls.

"I'm Xahra," Xahra spoke, recovering from the shock first. She nudged her friend with her elbow, giving her a look that clearly meant _answer her._

"My name's Madiha," The brown-haired girl said as she folded her arms. Her light summer shirt was not at all helping her stay warm in the chilling rain. She was soaked through and the cold wind biting at the exposed skin of her arms was getting extremely annoying. Apart from that, the rain was currently sliding down her glasses and making it really difficult for her to see. She was still confused about how they could be in Japan, but decided on getting a bit more information before freaking out.

The woman nodded, before shifting her gaze to the guy from Antarctica.

"I am Fai D. Flourite," the blond said, giving a small bow, "The wizard of Celes."

"My name is Yuuko," she said. "You do know where we are, right?" She asked them all.

"Your backyard?" Madiha responded dryly quirking a brow at the same time as the blond, Fai-who claimed to be a wizard- nodded an affirmative. Her response earned her another jab from her best friend while the red-eyed guy snorted behind her.

"We are at a shop that grants wishes at a proper price." The self-proclaimed wizard continued.

"That is correct," Yuuko replied, sounding more like a school teacher telling her student that he had gotten the right answer. "And since you all are here," she said, looking at the small group before her. "It means you all have some sort of wish."

_A wish, huh?_ Madiha thought skeptically. She lazily wondered if she was dreaming back at home. Maybe she had passed out while playing that boring game and this bizarre dream was a by-product?

"I wish to go back to my homeland." Her silent contemplation was cut off by Kurogane's growl, while at the same time, Fai chirped, "I wish to never go back to my homeland." Kurogane scowled at the blond who merely beamed in response.

"Well? What about you?" she questioned Xahra, her garnet-eyed gaze sweeping in Madiha's direction before returning to the raven-head.

"My wish?" she repeated thoughtfully as she lowered her head to stare at the ground. "I… I wish to know why I am the way I am," Xahra murmured solemnly as she looked back up to stare at the woman.

"Ah, of course," Yuuko nodded, "You wish to know your true self." She then turned her attention towards the bespectacled girl, who merely frowned back at her. "And you?"

"I don't believe in magic," Madiha shook her head, squashing down the small voice inside her head asking her how she could explain her presence in Japan. _I'm probably just asleep at home._ She mentally shrugged, though Yuuko smiled at her knowingly. "And I don't have a wish either."

"You don't believe in magic?" Yuuko repeated serenely.

"No."

"Then how would you explain your presence here, in Japan?" Yuuko smirked, repeating the question the voice in her head had asked only moments before.

"I'm probably asleep at home," she gave the woman she had given the voice before shutting it up. She pretended not to have noticed the looks her response drew from the others present.

"If this is all just a dream," the witch's grin grew wider as she stepped closer to the girl in what could be considered a violation of personal space by some, "then why are you so afraid of making a wish?"

"I'm not scared." The brunette crossed her arms defiantly.

"Then speak up." Yuuko said simply as her gaze bore holes in Madiha's head. "What is it that you wish for?"

"I told you-" Madiha felt a childish urge to stamp her foot on the muddy ground as she made to repeat her earlier words.

"No one but those who have a desire they want fulfilled can enter this shop," the witch interrupted, "even if you believe this all to be a dream, keep in mind that this is no ordinary dream. Now then… What is it you wish for?"

"How about, 'get this not-so-ordinary-dream over with.'?" She responded irritably.

"That will have to do for now," Yuuko said, a momentary frown taking over her features before her pleasant smile graced her lips once more. Her garnet eyes seemed to mock Madiha as the witch's gaze swept past her, looking over the entire group assembled in the pouring rain. "I have the power to grant all of your wishes," she told them sagely, "but the price will be something too high for all of you." The brown haired teenager clutching onto the sleeping beauty, instantly looked crestfallen. Maddy looked over at him wondering why Yuuko had not asked him about his wish. But then again, he had already been there when she and Xahra had arrived. So maybe he had already made his wish? Not that she really believed in all this wishing crap. Everyone had the power to make out their own destiny, fulfill their own wishes. If what Yuuko had said was true, then her shop ought to have been overflowing with customers. Well… she _did_ have about six customers right then but that wasn't the point. She broke out of her mental tirade as the witch continued. "That is, if you wish to pay it separately. Even if you offered the most precious thing you owned, none of you would have enough to pay. However," a glimmer of hope glistened in the depths of those amber eyes which belonged to the teenage boy as he looked up at the sound of those words. "If all five of you paid together, you may _just_ be able to afford it."

The guy dressed as a ninja scrutinized the others standing with him; a deep scowl across his face, his arms folded firmly across his chest in a manner similar to Madiha's. Fai smiled and shrugged nonchalantly, Xahra simply nodded, and so did the brown haired boy. Madiha on the other hand looked warily at Yuuko.

"All of your wishes are the same in the end." Yuuko paused, as she turned to the teenager. "You want to go to many worlds in order to restore the memory of this child," She said, as she put her hand on the unconscious girl's forehead.

_I don't even want to think about it._ Madiha groaned internally. _This is all just one bizarre, stupid dream... A dream that is freakishly similar to that stupid game Xahra forced me to play with her but I'm sure it's all just a coincidence._

Yuuko turned to Kurogane. "You want to return to your own world." Then to Fai, "You want to go to different worlds to avoid returning to your own." Next she turned to face Xahra. "You wish to find out who you are." And finally, she faced Madiha. "You want to end the dream."

"Your purposes might be different, but the method to fulfill them is the same. The ability to travel to different dimensions…that is what you need."

_Just go along with it._ Maddy told herself, _It's just a dream, next thing you know, you've got a talking rabbit for a pet. _This calmed her down enough to ask, "What will be the price?"

"The price for you, will be that ring," Yuuko pointed towards the white gold ring which she wore in a chain around her neck.

"M-my ring?" Madiha stuttered, her right hand moving to clutch the object in her freezing fingers.

"It is your most precious item, no?" Yuuko raised a brow.

"It is…" She affirmed softly, "It's the last thing he gave me."

"Which is _precisely_ why it is your price," the witch justified.

She had no idea why she did it but as if in a trance, her hands moved off their own accord to unhook the clasp that held the chain in place. Sliding out the ring, she handed it over to Yuuko. It almost seemed as though someone else was moving her body for her but… _It's just a dream… _She told herself, the chain feeling dreadfully light around her neck without the added weight of the ring. She watched the ring glow on top of Yuuko's hand before vanishing.

"Your price will be your sword." She informed the tan skinned man.

"What?" Kurogane bellowed angrily, "I'd _never_ sell Ginryu!"

"Fine then." Yuuko smirked as she sidled up to the ninja and poked him. "You can just wander this world looking like a costume-contest loser, get picked up by the police for carrying an unlawful sword, and get plastered all over the TV for being a freak! Is that what you want?"

"Huh? Poli... TV?" Kurogane gaped at her, a scowl quickly marring his features, "What the hell are you rambling on about, witch?"

"You do realize that you are trapped here," Yuuko grinned like a Cheshire cat, "and I am the only person in this world who can get you out?"

That caught Kurogane's attention apparently as he burst out immediately. "That's got to be a lie!"

"I'm afraid it's all true, Mr. Black." Fai piped in helpfully.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kurogane said, half in horror and half in disbelief. The wizard just laughed and shook his head.

"So, what will it be?" Yuuko's grin only widened, a feat Madiha thought previously impossible. Anymore and the woman's face would be split in two.

Growling and cursing, Kurogane untied the sword from his hip and thrust it at the witch. "When I'm free from this curse," he promised, "I'm coming back for it!" A sudden wind blew around the sword, lifting it away from him until it was hovering in the air between him and Yuuko. Madiha felt her jaw drop to the ground. Yuuko's smirked in her direction slightly as though asking what was it that had surprised her so. The sword too began to glow before it disappeared.

"Your price," Yuuko said to Fai, "is your marking."

The blond looked startled upon hearing his payment. "I don't suppose my staff would do instead?" He asked hopefully, a small smile on his lips as he lifted his staff just a little bit.

"I'm afraid it won't." Yuuko shook her head, her hair ornaments jingling lightly at the movement, "Like I said before, the price is the thing you value the most."

The self-proclaimed wizard looked deeply troubled by this news, but he smiled anyways. "I guess I have no choice, then." A blue glow appeared on his back and took the shape of a phoenix-like marking. It floated up from Fai's back and moved to Yuuko's side. There, it glowed brightly before disappearing as well.

Madiha was dumbfounded. _A tattoo?_ She thought incredulously. _His most valuable possession is a __**tattoo**__?_

Yuuko's attention shifted to Madiha's raven-haired friend, Xahra.

"Your necklace should suffice as your payment," She informed the girl after giving her a contemplative look.

"I suppose, if Maddy gave up her ring…" Xahra mumbled as she fumbled with the clasp holding the gold chain in place. She held out the necklace to Yuuko without another word, her purple eyes staring longingly at the black gemstone that was carved out into a lightning bolt shape. It glinted brightly as lightening flashed across the sky overhead. As the thunder rumbled the ground beneath their feet, it began to glow softly before vanishing like all the other prices.

Finally, Yuuko's attention switched to the teenage boy clutching desperately onto the unconscious girl. The rain continued to pour down on them all, with the occasional flashes of lightening.

"What about you?" she asked, a touch of sadness coloring her tone. "If you hand over the thing you value most, you will be able to travel the worlds."

The teenager stroked the young girl's face softly, a look of longing and tenderness showing through his eyes as he stared at her before turning to Yuuko. "I'll pay it." He told her seriously.

"You do realize I have not yet named a price," Yuuko warned him as she looked at the determined young man. Something about the way she looked at him unsettled Madiha. It was almost as if the woman could see into his future and witnessed nothing but pain, trials and tribulations lying in wait for him.

"I know." He nodded solemnly. "But I'm willing to pay whatever it is you ask for."

"Bear in mind that the only thing that I can do is send you to other worlds," she warned him, "Finding this child's memories is something _you_ will have to do."

"… I understand."

"I like your attitude," Yuuko complimented the boy, as a small smirk finally formed across her cherry red lips. She glanced in the direction of a bespectacled boy who had just emerged from the house. He was dressed in a pair of black pants and a black jacket, which for some reason reminded Madiha of a school uniform even if she had never seen one like it before. He didn't appear any older than the boy clutching onto the unconscious girl, probably fourteen years old at most. He was holding on to two, identical, rabbit-like creatures with roud jewels in the centre of their foreheads and a bejeweled earring in one long ear. Everything was indistinguishable about them, down to last furry little paw, except for their colors. One was white, the jewel and earring red in color while the other was black, the jewel and earring a shade of blue.

"Here they are," She smiled at the creatures fondly as she took the white one from the boy's hands, letting him hold on to the black one. "The name of this young one is Mokona Modoki. Mokona will be the one to lead you through the different worlds." She told them all.

"Hey, you have an extra," Kurogane smirked at the sight of the black rabbit resting in the boy's arms. "Hand it over. I'll go home with that," He said as he reached for it.

"No." Yuuko slapped his hand away. "That's how we keep in contact." She pointed to the black Mokona. "The only power this one has is to stay in communication with Mokona." Kurogane snorted in disgust at that. "Mokona will take you to different dimensions, but there is no way to control which dimension. For that reason, only fate will decide when your wishes will be granted." Her expression became neutral. "However, there is no coincidence in the world. What there is, is '_Hitsuzen_.' And what brought all of you together was also '_Hitsuzen_.'' She explained, before turning her attention back to the brown haired boy.

"Syaoran," she addressed the brunette grimly, "your price is your relationship."

_A relationship?_ Madiha wondered. _How would that work?_

"The thing you value most is your relationship with her," Yuuko informed him sadly. "So that shall be your price."

"My relationship?" the boy, Syaoran, asked. "But how-" apparently he had the same thoughts as Madiha but Yuuko cut him off before he could get the complete sentence out, "Even _if_ this child's memories are completely restored…your current relationship with her will not be restored. Tell me…" The witch of dimensions stared at him unyieldingly. "So, what is she to you?"

Madiha felt a pang of sadness grip heart as she observed the boy looking down, clutching the unconscious, dying girl to his chest. "Sakura is… a childhood friend…" He screwed his eyes shut, burying his face into her hair, "she is the princess of a country… and most importantly… a girl who is precious to me." He declared.

"I see…" Yuuko's expression softened and turned sad once again, "If you wish to accept Mokona that relationship will end. Even if you retrieve all of her memories, the one memory you will never retrieve will be her memory of you." She looked up towards the raining clouds. "That is my price. Will you still pay it?"

Syaoran still had his face buried in the girl's hair, "I will _not_ let Sakura die," He mumbled before looking up abruptly. "I'll pay it!"

"… I understand," Yuuko nodded, "Now I will give you a fair warning for your journey."

"As you will travel different worlds, it is possible that you will meet people who may look like someone you know from your home world," she said. "However, despite their similar appearances, they won't be the ones you know…"

-0-

"… Are you still determined to see it through?" Yuuko finished.

"… I am." Once again, Syaoran agreed without any hesitation and Xahra found herself admiring his unwavering resolve.

"Sincerity and determination…" Yuuko smiled as she lifted the white rabbit high into the air. Keeping her eyes on the small creature, she continued. "No matter what a person wants to attempt, those are needed. And it seems that you are well provided with both."

A gust of wind began to blow as the Mokona rose into the air. A glowing, cryptic seal appeared beneath the white rabbit as it suddenly grew wings on its back. The wind blew stronger and stronger as Mokona opened its mouth and started inhaling. A strong force of suction pulled on the small group of people in front of the creature. Once again the girls found themselves being enveloped in the multi-colored swirling mist, but this time, they were not the only ones. Beside them the three males and the unconscious girl were also beginning to dissolve into the rainbow-hued mist. Mokona closed its mouth after it had sucked in the entire group, and popped out of existence from that world.

The rain stopped pouring and the clouds cleared to reveal a happily shining sun. Yuuko's gaze once more shifted to the heavens. "I wish you children the best of fortunes on your journey. May you find the strength to face the difficulties ahead of you…" she sighed adding the last words as a whisper that was lost to a gust of wind, "this time."


	4. Hanshin: Frog Purses and Suits of Armor

_**A/N: ch 3, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 3:**

_She was standing at the base of a small hill. The place seemed vaguely familiar to her. It was around spring time, she realized as she looked around, flowers were in full bloom. _

"_So, where are we going?" she heard a little girl's voice, which sounded an awful lot like her own voice, back when she was young._

"_It's a surprise for you," she heard another familiar voice speak. She whipped around just in time to see a brown-haired boy, in his late teens, walk past her. He had a young girl with similarly brown hair sitting on his shoulders._

"_It's for my birthday, isn't it?" the girl asked excitedly._

"_You were not supposed to find out, you know." The boy said with a laugh as he set the girl down on her feet, once they reached the hilltop._

"_You forgot my gift." the young girl pouted in disappointment when she did not see anything distantly resembling one._

"_Here you go." The brown haired boy said as he produced a silver-colored ring dangling from a chain._

"_Wow. It's so pretty." The six year old girl exclaimed as she took it from her brother. "This is just like the one at the shop. Is this a magic ring?" she asked innocently when she saw the sunlight glint off its surface in thousands of varied hues. _

_Her brother chuckled at her innocence and went along, "Yup, I bought it just for my little sister's birthday. So, do you like it?" he asked, even though he knew perfectly well what the girl was feeling._

"_Wow. I love it. Thank you!" the girl said hugging the teenager happily after she had slipped the chain over her head. Madiha watched the two siblings with a small smile. This was not how she had received the ring from her brother, but it was a peaceful dream all the same- unlike all the other creepy dreams she had been having lately- so why not just enjoy it while it lasted. As though Morpheus had heard her thoughts; she was brought back to reality (or her dream) by the sound of loud gunshots, followed by the sound of a light body hitting the ground._

Madiha bolted up quickly as she breathed in rapidly; her heart was racing and her eyes wide. Taking in huge gulps of air she wiped off the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. Why the hell did she always have such weird dreams? Weird, snow-covered wastelands, burning villages with strange demons, black voids and creepy voices, freaky Goth witches and talking suits of armor, why couldn't she ever have a normal dream like every other teenager for once?

As the usual questions made their way into her mind, she became aware of another presence in close proximity to her. Turning her head to the right, she found herself looking straight into two pools of blue.

"Oh, shit!" she cried out, backing away hastily, "You're not a dream!"

"Afraid not," he smiled brightly, leaning closer.

"Personal space," she held out her hands to stop the man's advance, "ever heard of it?"

Chuckling softly, the blond moved away. "Sorry."

Ignoring the grinning pervert, she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

She was currently sitting on a futon in a Japanese style room with paper walls and a door. Apart from her and the blond from North Pole, there was the unconscious, teenage couple on the floor with the white rabbit-like thing perched on the boy's head, and then there was the guy clad in the black samurai outfit leaning against the wall looking extremely bored. And lastly was her friend, sleeping like a baby, just a few feet away from the two kids. The sight of her friend, sleeping so peacefully made her remember her deal with the stupid witch.

"No ordinary dream she said," she grumbled, clambering to her feet as she headed towards the raven-head, "I think she forgot to mention that the dream was a friggin' reality." Ignoring the self-proclaimed wizard following her, she crouched next to the sleeping girl and caught hold of her shoulders.

"Oye! Wake up you idiot!" she yelled in her ear as she roughly shook the black-haired female, "Look at where your stupid game had landed us."

"Mmm… just five more minutes mom…" the girl mumbled sleepily, her hands groggily trying to bat the brunette away.

"Urgh! Not again..." She groaned, shaking her head before looking back at her sleeping friend, "I'm not your mother, Xahra. Now if you don't wake up in the next five seconds…" she let the threat hang in the air.

"Alright. Alright." The sleeping girl muttered in defeat as she opened her eyes and sleepily rubbed at them, "I'm up, happy now?"

"Happy? Oh, yes. I'm perfectly happy." She responded acidly, letting go of her friend as she slumped on the floor, "Not only did I have to give up my ring, but I am stuck in God-knows-where with an idiot who keeps on mistaking me for her mother."

"Ring?" The gears in the raven-head's brain started working, "Oh, so I wasn't dreaming!" She exclaimed happily, her lavender eyes quickly roaming about. Noticing the incredulous stares being directed at them from the conscious male occupants of the room, she grinned excitedly, waving like a four year old on a sugar high. "Hi, I'm Xahra."

"I'm Fai D. Flourite," the blond said with a slight bow before flashing a dazzling smile, "but you can call me Fai. So," he glanced at Madiha once before turning his attention back to Xahra, "who might your charming friend be?"

"Miss grumpy over there is called Madiha," Xahra responded, jerking a thumb in the scowling girl's direction. Madiha was still pretty ticked off about the whole dimension travelling thing. Did Xahra need to add to her ire by acting unusually stupid? "But she prefers to be known as Maddy."

"Maddy?" the guy dressed like a ninja snorted.

"You got a problem with that," Madiha snapped as her brow twitched. However a smirk soon made its way to her face as she observed the color of hyis garb, "_Blackie_?"

Fai and Xahra burst into uncontrolled laughter at the name while the ninja growled deep in his throat, glaring daggers at the ones that dare laugh at him. "My name is _Kurogane_."

"Whatever." The brunette responded carelessly, refusing to let it show that his glower actually manage to scare her. To cover up, she got off the floor and started stretching her legs.

"Kurogane, huh?" Fai mused in the background, "I think Kurgz or Kuro-puu would sound much better, don't you think so, Xahra-chan?"

"Hey! Who gave you the permission to mutilate my name?" Kurogane yelled angrily and any fear she might have felt, somehow dissolved into thin air at the sight of his face.

"Shh... He's waking up." A childish voice chided them from somewhere.

"Huh," Madiha stopped mid stretch to look around in alarm, hadn't she already been introduced to the strangers that were awake? "Who said that?"

"Mokona did." Declared . . . the white rabbit?

Madiha's mouth fell open at the sight of the talking white creature as it bounced around the room.

_It's just a dream, next thing you know, you've got a talking rabbit for a pet._ Remmebring what she had thought back at the shop, Madiha could help but cry out in exasperation inwardly. 'I was only joking…'

'I was joking…' she inwardly cried out in exasperation, remembering what she had been thinking about at the witch's shop, as the rabbit spoke again, "Mokona Modoki at your service."

-0-

Maddy looked around her as she stepped out into the street with the four others, well, five if you counted the creepy, talking, rabbit-like thing. This Hanshin Republic wasn't that different from her hometown; tall sky-scrapers, people bustling about on the streets, cars poisoning the air with their exhaust… Yup! That was pretty much like home.

Earlier, she had listened to their host, Sorata, explain stuff about the world they were currently in, along with a practical demo of what kudan were. This was accomplished by whacking Mr. Blackie on the head with nothing but air. When questioned about her willingness to help the chocolate-eyed teenager in his quest to search for the missing feathers, Maddy had answered with a simple "_I'll think about it."_ A quite similar answer was given by Blackie not much later. However the blond- Fai- had agreed to help him right away and so had Xahra.

_Searching the city for the sleeping beauty's feather. _She thought as she waited for the others to join her, _that shouldn't too much of a problem._

"Here's some money for your lunch." Their crazy host said as he handed Syaoran… a frog?

_Can this get any crazier? _She thought as she heard _Kurgz_ yell at the other man for giving the money to a kid. _Not so much of a kid, I think._ She thought as she glanced in the direction of said boy.

"Well, he does seem to be the most trustworthy." Sorata explained matter-of-factly before walking off in the direction opposite to them.

They wandered around the city quite aimlessly, looking at various buildings, taking in the different sights and sounds and whatnot. All the girls who laid eyes on it squealed at the site of the white rabbit currently resting in her friend's arms.

"Mokona has a lot of admirers." The rabbit giggled happily when the ninja pointed it out to the creature.

A sweet smell drew her attention away from the group as Maddy subconsciously found herself heading over to a fruit vendor's stall. On the cart before him were apples; big, red, juicy, and ripe apples.

"Ah." the vendor asked as he flashed her a bright smile. "Would you like to buy some, young miss?"

"Oh, erm…" she started, raking her brains for an appropriate response since the vendor looked quite expectant that she might buy some of his produce, but her musings were cut off short by the annoyingly cheerful blond, "Whatcha doing, Maddy-chan?"

"Thinking about buying some apples." She replied, discreetly taking a step away from the blond that was just about to drape his arms over her shoulder. Did he _have_ to be so touchy feely?

"Those are _apples_?" Syaoran asked in bewilderment as he and the rest of the group approached the stand. Why was he so surprised? It was almost like ha had never seen apples in his life before.

"That's what I said." She responded, deciding to ignore his odd behavior as she stole the wallet from his hand.

"But apples are more yellowish," Syaoran insisted, frowning thoughtfully as he eyed the fruit.

"That's called a pear." Mr. Blackie, aka Kurogane, decided to contribute his two cents to the conversation.

"No, a pear is red," Syaoran shook his head, "and it has a stalk on its top."

"No, no, that's a Raki fruit." Fai corrected him with a laugh.

"Guys, I have no idea what a Raki fruit is, but this is _definitely_ not a pear." Xahra joined the debate as she tried to stifle her laughter, "by the way, Syaoran, apples can be both, red or yellow."

"Are you going to buy some, or not?" the fruit vendor's irritated voice finally stopped their discussion.

Maddy looked slightly embarrassed by her current company, as she paid for six apples. Handing one to everyone else, she made her way towards a nearby bridge.

"Where are you going, Maddy-chan?" Fai called after her when he noticed her walking away from them.

"I'm going to look around on my own." Came her simple reply, "I'll meet you guys back at the hotel."

"Maddy, wait." Xahra yelled, but the brunette had already disappeared in the crowd. "Honestly, that girl…" she mumbled with a shake of her head.

"Should we go after her?" Syaoran asked, his eyes worriedly travelling in the direction the girl had went in.

"Nah…" Xahra replied, waving her hand carelessly as she bit into her apple, "she'll be back before sunset."

"Is she always like this?" Fai questioned politely as they made their way through the crowd.

"Not unless she's extremely upset about something," The raven-head replied thoughtfully as she chewed and swallowed before taking another bite from her apple. "I guess she's mad at me for making her play the game."

"What game?"

"Well, we had a funfair at school a couple of days ago, and there was this old lady sold me a game," her hands flew about animatedly as she talked, "and then Madiha's parents had to go to her cousin's wedding , but we had our finals coming up so she couldn't go with them. They left her at my place but then we got bored when the power went out, so I sort of persuaded her to play that game with me. So we pushed the buttons like the instructions told us and the whole thing started shaking before this multi-colored smoke appeared and the next thing we knew we were at that wishing shop." The three listeners blinked when she finished her explanation and took a deep breath. The effect was quite comical.

"Hyuu," Fai made a funny sound, "Xahra-chan, you talk so fast."

"What was that sound?" Kurogane quirked a brow at the blond incredulously.

"I can't whistle." Fai explained cheerfully.

"Really?" It was Xahra's turn to be surprised, "You're the first guy I've met who can't. It's quite easy you know. All you gotta do is," she rounded her lips and blew air, producing a loud shrill sound, "see? So anyhow, how did you guys get there?" she asked as she bit into her apple once more, happily munching on it as she looked at them expectantly.

"The high priest of my country sent me and Sakura to the shop." Syaoran replied. He stared at the apple in a thoughtful daze for a while before biting into it.

"What about you Kurgz?" Fai chirped.

"My name is K-U-R-O-G-A-N-E." the man gritted his teeth in irritation when Xahra chuckled. It was just a nickname. Why was he getting so worked up over it? "I was sent there forcefully by the princess of my country."

"Ooh…" the blond laughed gleefully, "so you were sent as a punishment."

Mokona giggled merrily as it chanted "_Kurgz got Punished_." over and over again in its childlike voice.

"Shut up, meat bun." Kurogane growled, "so what about you? How did _you_ get there?"

"I went there on my own." Fai replied simply earning himself bewildered looks from his companions.

-0-

Maddy aimlessly wandered around the city for a few hours, and was just about to head back to the hotel, when someone pushed her from behind, making her stumble and fall to the ground. The frog-shaped purse fell from her hand, landing on the concrete pavement a few feet away. A teenage boy, most probably the one that had pushed her, picked it up and started running.

"Hey! That's mine!" Maddy shouted as she got to her feet and took off after the thief. _Great. I just got myself robbed. _She thought exasperatedly as she chased the boy who was weaving in and out of the crowd in an attempt to lose her.

_Not gonna happen._ Madiha smirked when she realized what the boy was trying to do. He took a sharp turn to the left and dashed into a side street. Madiha sped up entering the streets only moments after. The boy was at the farther end but he wasn't alone. There stood five more teenagers behind him, none of them looked any older than sixteen but that was not what bothered her, and it wasn't their number either. It was the fact that each one of them had some sort of weird creature standing right next to them.

Well, creature or no creature, she wanted the purse back. Better try being the pacifist first.

"Why don't you just return my purse, kid?" Madiha said calmly as she took a step towards him, "and I promise, I won't hurt you or your little friends."

"If you're being so cocky with us, you better have a good kudan, lady." The boy who had stolen from her spoke as he pocketed the purse, "otherwise, you better call the infirmary and make a reservation for yourself." As soon as he finished speaking, an electric-blue orb floated out of him and took the shape of a bird. The bird gave a shrill cry and a bolt of lightning zoomed through the air, right towards her.

Madiha's jaw dropped when she realized that her feet were stuck on the ground. Or rather… not _on_ the ground but _in _it. She could not dodge the incoming attack. Unable to do anything at all, Maddy lifted her arms to protect herself, mentally preparing herself for the shock whilst closing her eyes. A foreign energy surged through her body, concentrating at the tips of her hands, making them go all warm and tingly.

She heard a loud crash right in front of her, but the blow never came. Opening her eyes she realized that a slab of earth had risen to protect her from the incoming lightning. Slowly, the energy receded from her fingertips and began to gather near her heart from where a silver orb emerged. Just like orb that had emerged from the boy, this one changed its shape as well, only this did not become a bird- it did not become any sort of animal at all. It turned into a suit of silver armor- a suit of armor wearing a loincloth to be more specific. The same one she had seen in a dream not too long ago.

"I'm guessing you're my kudan, right?" Madiha asked as she looked at the suit before her. The suit nodded its head, as it regarded her with glowing white eyes before clapping its hands together and putting them on the ground. Looking down to her feet she realized that they were free once more.

"Now that's more like it." She grinned, pushing the panicking side of her into a far corner of her mind labeled 'to be dealt with later'. She had heard Sorata's explanation last night, seen his kudan manifest in the form of a puppet so really it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise after all. True she had never really fought with the thing before, but there was a first time for everything, right? Plus she really just wanted that wallet back. Her host might be upset upon hearing that she had managed to lose the money he had entrusted them with and that would not do at all.

As she dodged another bolt of lightning heading her way, when the wall resurrected by her kudan was molten to the ground by her opponent, she felt really glad that she had let Xahra talk her into attending those martial arts classes with her a few years back. Madiha was still a beginner, true, but knowing that she would be able to retaliate if things got out of hand made her feel a bit better. So what if she wasn't a natural when it came it fighting unlike her friend, she was still pretty sure she could kick some ass if she really tried.

Madiha threw a punch at the boy but he managed to block it, signaling his companions to take up fighting stances as well. Just as the other kids were about to rush her, her kudan clapped its hands once more and placed them on the wall next to it. Large stone hands emerged out of the wall and grabbed the gang members save for their leader. Their kudans were met with the same fate as their masters when they tried to attack her.

The boy tried to knock her off her feet by giving her a low kick but Maddy jumped over the leg, managing to avoid getting intimate with the pavement again.

"Look. Kid, just return my purse, and I'll leave you alone." Maddy said as she dodged yet another kick, "I _really_ don't want to hurt you."

"You're the one who's going to get hurt." The boy yelled as he raised his hand. Madiha had the wind knocked out of her as she hit the wall, gasping as a surge of electricity assaulted her body. A kick to her gut had her panting, clutching her stomach in pain, eyes watering. She saw the next punch coming out of the corner of her eye and managed to get her body to react in react fast enough to catch his fist. She twisted his arm behind his back but the boy threw his head back to hit her in the face, effectively freeing himself from her grip. He twisted his body in a roundhouse kick and caught her side. The force of the kick sending her crashing into the wall once more.

"That is definitely going to leave a bruise," she groaned, struggling to climb back on her feet.

His bird-like kudan gave a shrill cry and turned itself into a being made purely out of lightning. It flew at her but seconds before it could touch her, Maddy heard another metallic clap. A pale blue light enveloped the kudan in the form of a ball, pulsating softly before fading away to leave a crystal ball encasing the electric kudan.

'_You can do the same thing to him.'_ Her kudan's reverberating voice spoke inside her head. The boy threw a series of punches at her, Madiha but managed to dodge most of them, grunting in pain as the ones she failed to dodge connected.

Madiha felt the same foreign energy travelling down her arms. Having no idea as to why she was doing it, Madiha clapped her hands together, before putting them on the ground. The same blue light glowed through the earth's surface before a gigantic hand materialized out of it and pinned the boy to the wall where he struggled uselessly.

"I'll take that, thank you." Madiha said cheerfully as she fished the frog out of his pocket.

"Maddy-chan, is that you?" a voice spoke from behind her.


	5. Hanshin: Chopsticks and Rare Gifts

_**A/N: ch 4, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 4:**

"_Maddy-chan, is that you?" a voice spoke from behind her._

Madiha turned around to face the newcomer; a lanky man with dark, spiky hair- it was their over-enthusiastic host Sorata- standing there with his mouth hanging open.

"Y-you did this?" He asked as he walked up to her. He looked more and more bewildered with each step he took.

"…Yeah?" She replied hesitantly, trying not to wince as she put some pressure on her left leg- she had twisted her ankle during the fight when she had hit the wall. Her kudan condensed back into a silver ball and floated towards her, disappearing into her chest, now that she no longer had any use for it.

"You mean you're the one who bound these six in earth?" He asked once more, gesturing towards the boys still trapped by the giant stone hands.

"Yes, I did." She nodded before pointing out the leader of the group, "That one tried to steal this frog-purse thingy."

He looked at her in disbelief appearing as if he was mentally struggling with words, unsure of what to say. Why that was the case, escaped her. Maybe she hadn't clarified her reason for attacking them.

"And they attacked me with their kudans, so I fought back." she said simply, as though that settled the matter once and for all. She shouldn't be scared of him. After all she did nothing wrong by fighting back… Right?

"Maddy-chan," he started in a serious tone making her think that she was in deep trouble, "this is _amazing_." He caught her in a bone-crushing hug, "your first day in our world and you single-handedly captured the group that's been giving Shougo-kun the slip these past couple of months. You have got some great skills."

"C-cant b-breathe…" she managed to choke out. Honestly speaking, she didn't even have a remote inkling of what she was supposed to do while she fought them. It was her kudan that did most of the work so she wasn't really worthy of his praise.

"Oh." He grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that." Sorata hastily let go of her as he pulled out is cell phone, 'I'll notify the police about this, and then we can head home. Honey has made some pretty delicious dinner for tonight and I'm pretty sure you're hungry."

-0-

"We use chopsticks?" Xahra gasped in horror, "Of all the things one could use, why did it have to be _chopsticks_?"

"I take it you are not used to eating with these sticks either?" Fai grinned as he turned his head to face the dark haired girl, who was currently busy cursing whoever had come up with the idea of eating with those accursed things.

"I can't use them to save my life," she responded moodily, twirling a solitary stick around in her hand.

"Wonder what's taking him so long." She mused after a while, casting a glance towards the doorway. It was almost night time by now and Maddy still hadn't returned. Sorata had gone to look for her almost an hour ago.

"You think maybe Maddy got lost?" Mokona asked it bounced into her lap.

"Say that in front of her, and she will probably turn you into a pile of mush." Xahra chuckled lightly imagining the brunette's reaction to that statement. "If there is anyone I know who's good with their sense of direction, that would be Maddy."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the door opened with a loud, "Honey, I'm home!" from Sorata. And right behind him, Maddy limped inside.

"And if there is anyone I know," Xahra let out an exasperated sigh as she got up from her place on the floor to walk over to her friend, "who's prone to getting injured often, that would be Maddy."

Said girl glared at her friend as she kicked off her borrowed shoes -they didn't have any of their own with them since they had arrived at the shop barefoot- and stomped inside whilst limping.

"A group of jerks tried to rob me," she grumbled angrily.

"And you just _had _to teach them a lesson, didn't you?" Xahra smirked as she flopped down next to her.

"They were asking for it." She muttered avoiding her lavender-eyed gaze.

"So, tell me," from the way she spoke, it sounded like this was nothing new, "how did you injure that poor leg of yours, this time?"

"Twisted it when I hit the wall." The brown haired girl replied with a small pout. "Hey! It wasn't my fault, you know." She added indignantly when she noticed the wide grin on her friend's face.

"Of course not." Xahra said in an appeasing tone.

"You just wait." Maddy fumed, "One of these days, _you_ will be the one sporting an injury, and _I'll_ be the one who'll be laughing my head off."

Just as Xahra was about to come back at her with some wisecrack comment, Sorata stuck his head out of the kitchen and yelled, "Hurry up you two, or you'll miss the delicious dinner Honey has made for us all!"

"You wouldn't believe what they use to eat food over here." Xahra confided in a low tone that managed to betray her horror.

"And what would that be?" Maddy asked coolly as she hobbled over to the next room.

"_Chopsticks."_ Was Xahra's dramatic response, at which her friend rolled her eyes.

"I don't see what the problem is." The brunette teased as she seated herself.

"That's because you know how to use them." Xahra pouted.

"Well, it's about time you learnt as well." Maddy responded as she helped herself to some food. Dinner proceeded at a normal pace as everyone recounted the details of how their day had gone.

After the initial discussion about the possibilities of finding Sleeping Beauty's feather, aka her memory, everyone engaged in their own conversations.

Xahra was happily chattering about Kurogane's cool moves as he had fought a giant football and his crab. Fai and Syaoran were politely listening to Sorata as he rambled on and on about how Madiha had single handedly taken down six guys, while Mokona was bouncing around the room, occasionally stealing something from a certain grumpy ninja's plate.

"…then she touched the ground and BAM! These hands made of stone appeared from the walls and that kid was trapped." Sorata was happily going over the details of her little encounter. "I mean with the way she handled those troublemakers, I'd recommend she join the law department. She'd do great."

Maddy tensed up on hearing this but Sorata didn't notice.

"Wow, Maddy is so brave," Mokona said in its cute voice as it jumped onto her head. "So brave that she-" the white creature was cut off in midsentence when Maddy abruptly stood up from her place at the table, "I'm finished with dinner," she announced quietly, "and I'm tired, so I'm just gonna go to sleep now."

"What?" Sorata exclaimed, "But you haven't tried out my Honey's specialty yet."

"No thanks." She shook her head with an apologetic smile, "If I eat another bite, I'll explode."

"Are you sure?" Mokona asked, looking slightly worried, "You haven't even-"

"Yes." She hastily gave the magical rabbit a nod, "I'm quite sure. Goodnight everyone." With that, she quickly left the room.

"But she didn't even finish her first helpings," Mokona's ears drooped, "did Mokona do something wrong?"

All heads, excluding Kurogane's, turned to Xahra, who remained silent for a few seconds as she played with her food for a while before speaking, "It's not my place to tell you why but it's a very sensitive subject for her. I think she'd appreciate it if you didn't bring this up again."

The rest of the dinner passed in an uncomfortable sort of silence, broken only when Sorata's wife, Arashi whom he liked to address as his Honey brought out the dessert.

-0-

_Are you sure you want to come along?" Fai asked her, "Your foot must still be hurting."_

"_I can walk, can't I?" Maddy replied in irritation, "I'll be fine. Besides, cooking or doing chores isn't really my thing. If I stay behind, I might just double Arashi's work."_

"_Oye, you two going to chat all day long?" Kurogane asked._

_The scene before her eyes distorted and morphed into that of a desert. Two strange, stone pillars stood before her. Their shape reminded her of a pair of artistically built wings, capable of standing even the worst battering of time and even space itself. The opposing pairs of branches were joined together at the base by a relatively smaller building that looked nothing less than a temple._

_Strange yet beautiful symbols and patterns were intricately carved into the blocks of stone that had been used to construct the structure. The place gave off an otherworldly feel, an aura of mysticism and magic surrounding it that seemed to call out to her._

_Curiosity getting the better of her, Madiha stepped closer, nearing a pair of solid gold doors which closed off the small opening of the temple. As soon as her fingers touched the cool surface, they swung inwards, letting her glimpse at the darkness within._

_Fear began to clench its icy hands around her heart, squeezing painfully as a sense of foreboding told her not to proceed any further. But the call of that mystic magic was much too strong for her to ignore. Without even meaning to, she found herself crossing over the threshold, her world becoming consumed by darkness._

_Or that was what it felt like at first. As her senses returned, she realized that she was in fact floating. Floating in nothingness. A pitch-black, dark, blankness that she realized swallowed up all sounds when she tried calling out for someone._

_Something brushed past her leg, making her whirl around to look behind her. The entrance to the temple that she had stepped through was miles away from her, a tiny prick against the void. How she knew what it was, Maddy couldn't comprehend. It was just one of those things that one knew, but had no explanation for why they knew._

_That subtle, phantom touch ghosted past her shoulder, making her whirl around once again in an attempt to locate its source but to no avail. All of a sudden, a small light flared up in the distance and she found herself zipping though that vacuum towards it. Or was it the other way around?_

_She really couldn't tell._

_As the distance between her and the source of that light diminished she realized that it was actually a glowing sphere of energy, pure and clean on the outside but dark and malicious on the inside. This orb seemed to be generating that irresistible pull of magic that Maddy had been unable to ignore since she had arrived here._

_Subconsciously, her hand reached out to touch its surface. One touch. That was all it needed. All she had to do was let her skin make contact with it and it would be free. Just one touch, it seemed to be telling her. A tiny part of her, the same part that had forbidden her from stepping through the doorway was vehemently protesting. _Don't touch that thing! _I__t was screaming at her. _

_For a second, she faltered, her fingers retreating inches from the smooth surface. The glow of the sphere began to dull, the aura sadly calling out to her. _

Help me_. That's what it felt like it was saying, but before Maddy could do anything, it flared up once more, a maliciousness leaking out into the air it gave off. _Just a graze._ It echoed in her mind before dulling out once more. _

Please, help me, _i__t pleaded, the vulnerability and sadness making her heart cry. It brightened up again. _

Yes. Help me._ It coaxed. _

I'm scared._ It whimpered. _

Get me out._ It ordered. _

Don't leave me._ It begged. _

Yes. Save me. _It cajoled._

_The orb continued to pulsate, two alternate voices, one belonging to a young child and the other to a fully mature woman resonating inside her head, each in its own manner trying to get her to touch the sphere. After a moment's hesitation, Madiha extended her hand once more. They were too hard to ignore. She had to help them. She knew she did._

_She held her breath as her fingers drew closer and closer until… they phased right through the sphere._

Help me._ The child cried._

Let me out._ The woman screamed._

He's coming._ The child whimpered. _He'll kill me.

He's coming._ The woman laughed._ He'll unbind me.

_Every time the voice changed, the orb either flared up to a painful intensity or dimmed out to almost nothingness._

He's here!_ They both cried at the same time, though Madiha could pick out the joy and fear in both voices respectively._

_A rift appeared in the space behind the sphere, a black-sleeved arm extending from the slit. A thick fingered hand reached out to touch the surface of the orb that Madiha's hand had ghosted through. To her surprise, it came to rest light on top of the pulsating surface._

_The weak-sounding whimper was drowned out by a deranged laugh that echoed all around her._

I free you from you prison of non-existance. _ A deep, gravelly voice boomed across the void as a stream of crimson runes emerged from the fingertips of the outstretched hand resting atop the sphere. _And now you serve me, _.

_The hand retreated just as the runes began to pulsate in rhythm with the sphere, spinning around it, twisting closer and closer in tight knit circles as the sphere began to morph. Slowly but steadily, the glowing orb took the shape of a very young, dark-haired girl with hazy, unfocused eyes and an expressionless face. She could have been no older than four years at most but Madiha felt like that was just an illusion. Somehow, deep inside, some subconscious part of her was telling her that this girl was a lot older than she appeared._

_Time seemed to stand still as the pulsating magical symbols came to an abrupt halt in their orbit. The girl turned around to face Maddy, her expression still not showing any emotions, but Madiha was drawn to the strange, dark, intricate tattoo that covered the right side of her face. It seemed to be pulsating in the same manner as the sphere._

You promised to help me._ The child's voice accused her in an angry tone, though Madiha could not see the girl move her lips. _You promised you would save me.

_The silence that followed this statement was oppressing and ominous, suffocating and crushing. Just as Madiha thought she would burst from the depressing feeling it seemed to fill her up with, time sped up once more. The runes shot inwards impaling the young girl's body. Her eyes widened in shock as they tore at the girl's flesh but Madiha could only watch in horror as the girl writhed and jerked, her body spasming violently as she writhed in agony._

Help me!_ The girl's anguished cries reverberated in her ears as the world around her began to twist and morph, a woman's maniacal laughter and a man's amused chuckles intermingling with her screams._

You will fail._ The woman taunted, her laughter increasing in intensity as the man's hand retreated back into the tear which closed itself up. _You will fail.

Panting slightly, Madiha sat upright on the futon she had been sleeping on. Taking in deep gulps of air to calm her racing heart, she cast a look around herself. Next to her was Xahra, snoring softly in her sleep, while all the way on the other side of the room were Sleeping Beauty and the chocolate-haired boy, who had fallen asleep while clutching her hand.

From the moonlight pouring in through the window she realized that it was still night-time. Heaving a soft sigh, Madiha pushed herself off the ground and silently made her way across the room towards the paper door. Having asked Sorata about the way to access the rooftop earlier that evening on her way back to the hotel, she knew which way to go to reach her destination. The door creaked slightly as she pushed at it to reveal the moonlit rooftop. The night was still and only the chirping of a few crickets could be heard.

Limping slightly, she made her way to the very edge of the rooftop and sat down near the railing, her legs dangling off the roof. Although her leg still hurt when she put her weight onto it, she was pretty sure it would be just fine in the morning.

_Mom and Dad are going to freak when they get back. Five days till finals and I'm stuck in an alien world, helping a princess collect her memories which happened to be disguised as feathers. Who would have thought? _She chuckled softly at the sheer absurdity of it all. _What the hell was the point in staying behind if I wasn't going to end up studying anyways? Although, now that I think about it… _she let her thoughts trail off as her gaze travelled upwards, fixating on the bright silver orb hanging in the night sky. For some reason, the moon always calmed her mind, distracting it from remembering the disturbing dreams that she had every night.

_I guess I'll never have a normal night's sleep._ She thought ruefully.

For as long as she could remember, her sleep had been plagued by nightmares, dreams of worlds ripping apart, people falling to their deaths in valleys covered with snow, villages getting destroyed by the strangest of creatures. Sometimes, the nightmares would spare her, leaving her to dream of foreign lands with cultures and customs varying from those of medieval times to highly futuristic ones. Then, there were times when she would dream of herself, trapped in the strangest of scenarios, most of them not even making sense. As a child, she had always liked to entertain the possibility that she could see the future in her dreams. Like her grandmother.

As she grew older, however, her parents grew concerned about her strange behavior. That one incident when she had been six years old had changed her more than they could have imagined. But then again, the death of a loved one could do that to you. Apparently, believing in things such as predicting the future and course of upcoming events through one's sleep was not normal. It wasn't healthy. A friend of hers had once joked about his therapist taking away his super powers. Hers had taken away her ability to foresee the future. Or rather, her ability to believe in such things.

"You're still awake?" a gentle voice asked from behind her.

"It seems that way." She replied, not bothering to look back.

Light footsteps approached her and sat down beside her. "There is an old legend of in our world about a moon goddess who could control what the mortals dreamt of. They say she touched a newborn child with her light and the first dream-seer was born." Arashi spoke quietly as she followed her line of sight and gazed at the moon.

"Yeah?" Madiha responded skeptically as she leaned on the railing and rested her head on her arms, "In my world dream-seers are nothing but a load of bull. Where I come from this dream-seeing business… it's considered a form of psychosis."

"You are not a crazy person, Madiha-chan." the older woman said gently, "'the ability to see not only the future, but the past as well is a rare gift. Very few posses are blessed with this kind of power."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful to this moon goddess of yours," she sighed, shaking her head as she stared at glowing neon sign opposite to the hotel building. "But I would have been better off without this _rare_ gift."

"Somehow," Arashi chuckled lightly, "I don't think knowing that is not the only rare gift you possess is going to uplift your spirits much."

"Not in the least bit." She responded dully.

"…"

"Well?"

"Well what?" Arashi repeated serenely.

"Aren't you going to enlighten me? What's this other rare gift of mine?"

"Something you inherited from your grandfather," the older woman replied. Surprised, Madiha shifted her gaze to observe her host. "It would do you well to look for a teacher when you reach his home world."

A feeling of déjà vu washed over Maddy but she chose to ignore it in favor of furrowing her brows at the other woman. "Aren't you going to elaborate what it is?"

"You will learn in due time." Hearing Arashi's response strengthened the feeling. She could have sworn she had witnessed this conversation in a dream almost a year back. Echoing the actions of the Arashi from her dream, the raven-haired woman climbed to her feet, moving towards the door that led to the staircase. "You shouldn't stay out for too long. Get some sleep, alright?"

Maddy sat there for a while, contemplating what the elder woman had said to her. As the sky in the distance started to tinge with the pre-glow of a sunrise, she finally left her place and limped back inside to get some more sleep.

-0-

"Are you sure you want to come along?" Fai asked her, "Your foot must still be hurting."

"I can walk, can't I?" Maddy replied in irritation, suddenly realizing that they were playing out the scene from her dream last night. "I'll be fine. Besides, cooking or doing chores isn't really my thing. If I stay behind, I might just double Arashi's work."

"Oye, you two going to chat all day long?" As if on cue, Kurogane emerged from the building. He brushed past them, without paying much mind to either of them.

"We weren't the ones keeping everyone waiting." She mumbled in annoyance, holding her chin high as she marched down the steps, deliberately ignoring the pain that shot through her leg with each step she took. It wasn't something she couldn't tolerate, so she decided not to spend the day cooped up in one of the hotel rooms. Since her back was turned towards Fai, she did not notice the pensive look on the magician's face as his eyes followed her footsteps till she was out of his line of sight. Only then did he choose to shake his head before following the pair to where everyone else was.


	6. Hanshin:Kidnapped Kiddies and Nightmares

_**A/N: ch 5, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 5:**

"Guys, can we take a break?" Xahra asked after they had roamed more than half of the city on foot.

"Don't tell me you're tired already." Kurogane snorted in contempt, failing to notice the look of exasperation that had passed on Maddy's face when Xahra had spoken.

"None of us are tired, Blackie." Maddy said; her irritation at her friend's overly-concerned behavior turning to anger at the ninja's demeaning attitude. "Don't look down on her for being considerate of those around her."

"My name is Kurogane," the ninja growled.

Madiha's eyes flashed with anger but whatever she was about to say to the red-eyed man was cut short by a surprised yell from Syaoran. Anger forgotten, Maddy's mouth fell open at the sight of a young boy emerging from the wall of a nearby building.

"Syaoran-kun!" a boy's voice made them all turn around, the group found themselves looking at a dark haired boy who could not have been any older than twelve.

"Hello, Masayoshi-kun," Fai greeted the newcomer in a cheerful tone. "How did you find us?"

"My kudan can track people I've met before." The kid replied sheepishly.

"That's kinda cool." Xahra grinned good-naturedly. "This is Masayoshi." She told Madiha, "He treated us all to lunch yesterday when you ran off with all the money."

"It's not that great." The kid, Masayoshi, said as he shuffled his feet about, "it's about all that it can do."

_Not a very confident kid, is he?_ Maddy thought as she watched the kudan -that looked like a boy- disappear into Masayoshi.

"It's those punks again!" yelled someone in the crowd.

"Not another street fight!" cried another voice.

"There she is!" some kid shouted, making the group turn their heads in the direction of the commotion.

"Oh please," groaned Maddy, recognizing the spiky blue-haired boy from the gang she had gotten into a fight with the previous day. "Not those idiots again."

"Get her!"

"I want a rematch with you, Freak!" The golden-haired boy with purple and brown highlights yelled as he pointed a finger in Maddy's direction. He was definitely the leader of this little group. "After all the trouble we had to go through to get away from the police yesterday, we're not going to let you get away so easily."

"These are the ones you fought yesterday?" Kurogane asked.

"Yeah." She sighed, getting ready to summon her kudan for the upcoming battle when Xahra stepped forward.

"How about, I handle this one?" She offered, looking at her friend out of the corner of her eye. A smirk playing about her lips as she spoke, "You shouldn't give your accident-proneness a chance to come into play before your leg is better."

"Do you even have a kudan?" the brunette crossed her arms, scowling at the intended jibe.

"We'll find out soon enough." Xahra grinned, her eyes briefly flickering in Kurogane's direction.

"You're crazy." Maddy mumbled, shaking her head as she looked away. "Be my guest though. I won't mind watching you get your butt kicked."

Chuckling lightly at her friend's childish behavior, Xahra turned her attention back to the gang of teenagers.

"We're going to make you pay!" a rather overenthusiastic teen declared.

"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen." Xahra grin cheerfully, far too much like the crazy blonde's for Maddy's liking.

"We'll see." The boy fumed in response. The electric blue orb floated out of him and turned into the elemental bird. The smile did not leave the dark-haired girl's face as she tilted her head to one side slightly, seemingly amused by the kid's action.

A reddish glow surrounded her before concentrating into an orb of black and maroon energy with small, silver swirls moving about its surface. The orb hovered before her in mid-air for a while before it began to pulsate lightly.

_Just like my dream._ Maddy thought as the orb grew dim and then brighter before flaring up and bursting up into a cloud of dark smoke. In its place was now a Gothic-looking girl, wielding a metal pole in her hand. Her skin was of a grayish hue and silver eyes were outlined with a deep crimson. The girl, who Maddy presumed was Xahra's kudan, grinned widely, allowing the brown haired girl to see a pair of fangs in place of her canines.

_Great. _Maddy complained mentally. _ How come I get a talking scrap of metal and she gets to have the gothic vampire?_

"Your stupid kudan is no match for my first-level kudan." The boy warned her cockily as the electric bird flew straight for Xahra. The girl just stood there, grinning like an idiot, till the very last minute when the kudan collided with her in a flash of blinding light followed shortly after by a loud crash.

"Xahra!" Maddy cried out in alarm as she started to run in her direction, but was stopped by Kurogane who motioned for her to watch.

"Is that the best you got, kid?" Xahra's bored voice reached their ears as the light faded away to reveal the unscathed girl. The electric bird gave a shrill cry before once again attempting to ram the girl.

"Show off." Madiha rolled her eyes although there was small relieved smile on her lips. The bird once again met the translucent shield surrounding the girl. The gang leader nodded his head in the direction of one of his cronies, who stomped his feet on the ground. Shockwaves generated from the point where his feet collided with the earth and travelled through the ground towards Xahra, who lost her balance and fell on her butt.

"Ow… that hurt." She complained as she climbed back to her feet and dusted her skirt with her hands.

"This will hurt even more." The bird kudan boy growled as the bird zoomed towards her and shocked her entire body. Before she even had a chance to recover, the remaining gang members attacked her. Her kudan twirled its staff and erected a barrier around her once more. The silver in its eyes faded away, leaving behind only crimson, its grey skin darkening in color as she rose off the ground. Small, deep maroon shaded orbs appeared in the air around it, zooming off in random directions, exploding the moment they made contact with a surface.

"Oye! Watch it!" Kurogane yelled as one of the balls exploded way too close to their group.

"Sorry. I had no idea that would happen." Xahra grinned sheepishly as she ducked to avoid a punch that was coming her way. "Hey! I was talking to someone." She said as she returned the favor by kicking the guy who had dared to seize the opportunity.

"Xahra-chan seems to be good at hand-to-hand combat." Fai said as the girl dodged around a kick to the head and punched the blue-haired boy in the gut.

"She's way better than me." Maddy nodded as she watched the gang leader spin around to land a roundhouse kick to Xahra's head but his foot met with a glowing, translucent red barrier, which vanished as the boy fell.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people." Xahra admonished as she looked at the fallen boy before ducking down to avoid his electric kudan.

"Hyuu. Hyuu. Go, Xahra-chan." Fai clapped as Mokona chanted, "Go, Xahra, goooo…"

Maddy quirked a brow at him, wondering why a grown man was acting like a kid. _Seems like he's got a few screws loose in that brain of his. _

The fight drew long, despite Xahra managing to hold her own. The fact that she was outnumbered stopped her from making much progress. She wondered if she ought to join the fight despite her friend's warning about her accident-proneness, but the decision was taken out of her hand when one of the gang members ran towards her, his kudan shooting off random attacks to separate her from the rest of her companions.

"_Crap," _she mentally cursed, glancing at Syaoran and the others as she ducked under a swirling ball of flame. It appeared as those three were caught up in a crowd of panicking passerbies; the other gang members had started attacking random onlookers to add to the chaos. She was on her own. "_So how was it that I summoned Mr. Suit of Armor, again?"_

She realized belatedly as she semi-dodged another attack, unable to save her hair from getting singed as the flaming ball passed her by, that she had no idea how to summon her kudan. Last time have been purely an accident. If the thing was supposed to come out every time she was in danger, it ought to have showed its armored face when her hair got burned.

"_Maybe I should think about making it appear." _She tried it out, but Hollow Metal Man was nowhere to be seen, _"I _could_ try closing my eyes and concentrating on summoning it but that would most probably result in Barbeque ala Madiha."_ She thought wryly before her opponent decided to get physical.

"You kids have no manners whatsoever." She groaned, wiping blood off her split lip as she picked herself off the ground after one of her opponents attacks connected. "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to hit girls?"

"Real girls don't go picking around fights with us!" he yelled, launching another volley of fireballs at her using his kudan.

"Damn it!" she yelped, running as fast as her legs could carry her to avoid getting burned. "Just show yourself already you stupid metal… thing." No sooner had the words left her mouth, the tingling energy raced through her body, taking form of the spiky metal armor with a purple loincloth once the orb had floated out of her chest.

"_You could have asked nicely." _Its young voice sounded in her head.

"Whatever," she yelled, skidding to a stop and ducking down behind a trash can in an alley. "Just stop that pyromaniac and his kudan." Her leg was beginning to throb rather painfully again. Panting heavily, she listened to the sound of her kudan clapping it's hands followed by the flashes of blue lightening. She heard the boy yell angrily, demanding his freedom as she pictured the earthen hands holding him in place.

A few minutes went by as she heard the sounds of battle going on outside wind down until it was all silent. Her kudan returned to her body just as she heard the sound of footsteps approach her direction.

"Maddy!" Xahra's worried face showed up at the entrance of the alley way just as the brunette stood up, dusting her clothes to brush away the dust.

"Before you start fussing," she held up her hand, the limp slightly more pronounced as she made her way over to the group, "I'm fine. Just twisted my ankle… again." She added with a frown.

"We could head back now if your leg is troubling you." Syaoran offered somewhat hesitantly, taking note of her disheveled appearance. Brushing her hair out of her face, she shook her head.

"Nah. It's nothing. I've been hurt a lot worse before."

"Are you sure?" he asked again, though it was clearly evident from the way his fingers were playing with the edge of his shirt that he was hoping they didn't have to go back. He reminded her a lot of her younger brother the way he was looking at her just then and she couldn't help but ruffle his hair.

"Don't worry about it." She grinned. "Just try and figure out where Sleeping Beauty's might be."

"Does Maddy-chan get into fights often?" Fai asked inquisitively. "You mentioned being hurt a lot worse before." He clarified at the questioning look she threw his way.

"She's a klutz." Xahra piped up before she could respond.

"I'm accident prone! Not a klutz, Xahra. Get it through that thick-" Maddy's angry retort was cut off when a large shadow dropped from the sky right on top of Masayoshi. The next moments saw a very startled Masayoshi getting yanked off his feet while he held onto Mokona. The bird took off before anyone could react leaving a piece of paper in their place.

Syaoran bent down and picked up the paper, which had some strange symbols drawn on it.

"siht si erehw yeht koot Masayoshi-kun dna Mokona." Syaoran said excitedly as he waved the note about, "eht Hanshin Palace."

The remaining members of the group looked at one another in confusion before whacking themselves on the head or cleaning out their ears.

"paa ayk lob yahar ho, Syaoran-kun?" Fai said as he tilted his head to one side.

"Oye, what the hell are you two blabbering about?" Kurogane said gruffly as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "I can't understand a word either of you two said."

"un say lartay huay kahin mairay sir pay chot to nahi lag gai?" Xahra said as she put a hand to her head as though checking for injuries. "ye log aik dum say kon si zuban bolna shuru ho gaye hain?"

"pata nahi." Maddy said, sounding equally confused.

"Not you, too." Kurogane sighed in exasperation as he looked at the two girls.

"abi tak to sab kuch samajh a raha tha, phir achank say…" Xahra said thoughtfully.

"Mokona!" all five of them exclaimed at the same time before once again looking at each other.

Syaoran darted off in the direction of a rather grand monument. The others decided to follow the boy. He seemed like he knew what he was doing.

"ye ahista nahi bhag sakta tha na?" Maddy grumbled as she tried to quicken her pace, afraid of getting left behind.

"ufoh, rona band karo aur jaldi chalo" Xahra said as she grabbed her hand and literally dragged her along to make her keep up with everyone else.

-0-

As it turned out, Mokona and Masayoshi had been taken to Hanshin palace, where some chick demanded to have a kudan battle with Syaoran. _Everybody seems to want to have a try. Was being praised by this Shougo guy _that _big a deal? _Anyhow, Fai was the one who stepped, in stating that Syaoran had other important stuff to do. After what seemed like ages of watching Fai dodge Primera's musical notes attacks using the abilities of his phoenix-lookalike kudan, the battle finally came to a halt when Primera screamed, causing the lower level of the castle to collapse.

Masayoshi and Mokona were saved from being squashed due to the timely arrival of Shougo himself, who proceeded to escort the two to safety with his manta-ray kudan.

Mokona went '_mekyo'_ and declared that the feather was somewhere nearby. Figuring that the gang leader must have been in possession of said item, Syaoran challenged him to a fight, which was quite intense and evenly matched, but had to be abandoned halfway through after it was discovered that the feather was not in the possession of Syaoran's current opponent, but in Masayoshi's kudan. Syaoran managed to get the feather while nearly killing himself in the process, but didn't seem to care about that fact at all.

The boy's face was transformed with joy as he rushed through the streets back to his beloved princess. The others followed him, feeling happy for the chocolate-eyed teenager. One feather down, some large-amount-minus-one-feather left to go.

By the time they got back to the Arashi's, it was night. The clouds rumbled overhead as they walked inside after an extremely excited Mokona and an equally excited, but more composed, Syaoran. Once inside, the boy couldn't wait any longer as he sprinted to Sleeping Beauty's room and crouched on the floor next to her. He let the feather float back inside her body and some more color returned to her face. Her eyes fluttered open but for some reason, Maddy noticed, they were completely void of life.

"Who are you?" was the girl's first question towards the boy who was by her side.

She watched from the sidelines as the expression of joy on Syaoran's face turn to one of shock and then a defeated sort of acceptance. A pang of sorrow grasped her heart. It was evident from the pained smile on his face the amount of love he held for that girl in his heart. She watched silently as he beamed at the girl, although his eyes were turning bloodshot around the edges. He was close to tears and yet he was smiling for the dazed girl like she meant the world to him. As soon as that thought crossed her mind she felt the urge to mentally kick herself. Of course that girl meant the world to him, why else would he do all those things? Giving up his relationship for her life, travelling across dimensions to regain _her _memories despite knowing the fact that she would never remember him, taking on a fifty-foot tall kudan in the process, now _that _wasn't something you did for everybody.

She chose to keep her distance and stand next to the frowning red-eyed ninja as her best friend and the self-proclaimed wizard moved forward to engage the confused princess in a conversation, introducing everybody in the room in the process. It could have been a trick of the light, but Maddy thought she saw a bit of guilty sorrow in Fai's eyes before he blinked and it was gone. A short while later she saw Syaoran slip out the door into the rain that had begun to pour sometime ago. Fai let Xahra and Mokona deal with the disorientated princess as he came over and stood next to them near the window that overlooked the small garden at the back of the hotel.

"It must be really hard." Maddy said solemnly as she finally voiced her thoughts.

"Sakura-chan _is_ his most important person." Fai stated in an equally grim tone. This surprised the brown haired girl. The idiotic blond was capable of being serious. _Wow_. She mentally berated herself for having such thought at that time. This wasn't time for her to be passing comments on those around her.

"When she asked him who he was," Fai continued in the same tone. "I thought he would start crying right then."

"Like he is right now." Maddy observed dismally.

"He should be." Kurogane said simply making Maddy turn her head to look at the man in disbelief. How could he say something like that in such a casual way?

"Those who don't cry," He continued, choosing to ignore the girl as he looked out the window, "are not strong. Once you've cried, then no matter what happens, you can deal with the problem in a much better way."

Maddy's thoughts drifted off to a song which could have fit Syaoran's situation very nicely.

_Till the day I die_

_I spill my heart for you_

_For you_

_Till the day I die… I spill my heart for you_

_As years go by_

_I race the clock with you_

_But if you die right now_

_Know that I'd die too…_

_I'd die too…_

She was brought out of her thoughts when Xahra came to stand next to her.

"I feel so sorry for him." she said, softly.

"Yeah. Me too." She mumbled as she tore her eyes away from the sight of Syaoran standing all alone with nothing but his new companions' kudans sheltering him from the rain. "I'm gonna go off to bed now. It's been a really tiring day, and…" she trailed off as she left the room, only to slump down on the futon in the room she was sharing with her friend, a minute later. She lay down and pulled the covers over her body, but sleep eluded her for a very long time. It was several hours after her entering that room that sleep finally did come to her, once again showing her strange events which made no sense whatsoever to her.

_She was back on the hill-top. Before her was the brown-haired teenager clutching onto her six-year-old self who was bleeding profusely. She saw several rifts in space closing in the distance, each with a dark figure receding into them._

_Returning her attention back to the scene at hand, she saw her brother race down the slope with her limp body in his arms. He rushed the six year old into the emergency room in the hospital. She watched as the teenager paced outside the operation theater, his face set with worry and anger._

"_Y__**our wish, I can grant that." **__Madiha heard a familiar, disembodied voice echo through the hallway in which her brother stood. _

_The scene around her began to flicker and morph and __Maddy found herself standing in a void, only this time it wasn't pitch black. No, the nothingness that surrounded her wasn't darkness; it was some sort of empty, glowing place that could not be described in words. One had to be there to understand what that place was._

_At first there was nothing, but then, slowly, just like before with the glowing, pulsating sphere-thing, Maddy realized that there was something in the distance. A giant stone structure made out of an unknown kind of black stone. It had weird looking statues lining its sides and the top. She walked towards it. _

_**At least I'm not zooming through space,**__ she thought wryly as her footsteps echoed in the emptiness._

_She walked closer and closer until she was just a few feet away from it. It looked some sort of gate that radiated energy from every single fiber._

"_Where am I?"__ She heard a young voice speak from behind her. Turning around, Maddy found herself looking down at her six-year-old self, her white shirt stained with crimson blood._

"_This is the gate of truth." __A male voice spoke as the doors of the gate opened, and a strange being walked out of it. It seemed to be human though it was just an outline. It had no face or body, just an arm till the shoulder and a leg that was cut off just below knee level. Those were the only parts of its body which were solid._

"_What is that?"__ Her scared little voice asked._

"_Just what the name says."__ The being said simply, as it moved closer towards her younger self._

"_Why am I here?"__ She asked._

"_Because you're about to die."__ The being replied, even though Maddy could not see its face, she knew that thing was sneering at her younger self._

"_A-are you going to kill me?"__ The younger Maddy asked innocently as she looked up at the humanoid-like thing with wide eyes._

"_I don't have to."__ It replied in a light voice, __you'll die on your own. "I'm merely here to get you to the other side."_

"_What's on the other side?"__ The girl asked as she walked closer, her fear replaced with curiosity._

"_You ask a lot of questions, you know that kid?"__ The outline said in an amused tone, "__you'll find out; just walk through that over there."__ It jerked its outline of a thumb in the direction of the now-open gateway. Inside the stone structure was nothing except darkness, a viscous, jelly-like, gooey darkness that seemed to ripple lightly, like waves on the surface of water._

"_Or not."__ It added in distaste. "__So you've come to offer a trade?" __The creature said to someone Maddy couldn't see._

"_Let her go back." __She heard a voice speak firmly, making her gasp as she whirled around to face the newcomer. Narrowed amber eyes similar to her own glared at the being._

"_You sound just like the brat."__ The being said, his tone once again filled with amusement at the turn of events, "__I took his brother's body and his leg for what they had attempted, yet he gave up his arm for his brother's soul. So, what is it that you can give me?"_

"_Keep me but let her go back," her brother stated simply,__ stepping forward to hide her six year old self behind him, "__safe and whole."_

"_I normally wouldn't be doing this," __the being said thoughtfully, "__but- since the witch is involved in all of this…" __it paused for a while before waving its outline of a hand in a dismissive way,__ "I guess it can't be helped."_

"_Danish!" She heard her younger self cry out as thousands of tiny black hands shot out of the dark goo, wrapping themselves around her brother's body._

"_Stay out of trouble, sis."__ Danish ruffled her hair fondly before stepping away from the six year old._

"_This was __my__ choice, Maddy."__ He then turned his head to look in __her__ direction; his smile spreading wider as he locked his gaze with hers,__ "try not to get killed before the end of the game. You've taken my place in the journey now."__ The hands started pulling him towards the open gates as her younger self began to fade away._

"_Y-you can see me?"__ Maddy gasped in shock as some of the black hands branched off of the goo enveloping her brother and began to wrap themselves around her torso._

"_Talk to the Time-Space Witch." __Danish told her as he was pulled closer and closer to the giant door. The black gooey hands snaking their way up around her own body, covering her eyes and ears and mouth. Thousands and thousands of voices began echoing inside her head, some of them laughing, some crying while some of them screamed. But it was what they all told her that got to her. Knowledge, knowledge of things from the dawn of time. Bits and pieces of it. But still so much that she felt like she would explode. She couldn't possibly contain all of it._

_She felt like she would lose herself if this all continued for much longer._

"_STOP IT!" __She cried out, clamping her hands over her ears as she screwed her eyes shut._

"_STOP!" __She yelled once more, pulling at the jelly enveloping her but it just stuck to her hands._

"Maddy!"

"_Make it stop!"__ She screamed again, trying to get the black stuff off of her, the screams and laughter resonating in her ears._

"Maddy! Wake up!"_ She heard a voice call out her name, louder from all the other voices but the screams were still there. She felt exhausted, like the black stuff was sapping off her energy in return for all the knowledge it was imparting her._

"_Please, just stop!" __She cried weakly._

-0-

[Syaoran: this is where they took Masayoshi-kun and Mokona. The Hanshin palace.]

[Fai: what are you saying Syaoran-kun?]

[Kurgz: Oye, what the hell are you two blabbering about? I can't understand a word either of you two said.]

[Xahra: did I hit my somewhere while I was fighting them? Which language have they started speaking all of a sudden?]

[Maddy: I don't know.]

[Kurgz: not you too.]

[Xahra: we could understand everything just fine till now then why…]

[Everyone: Mokona!]

[Maddy: he couldn't run slower than this?]

[Xahra: ofoh! Stop complaining and hurry up.]


	7. Citadel: A New World?

**_A/N: ch 6, rewritten._**

**Chapter 6:**

"_Please, just stop!" _She cried weakly.

"Maddy, wake up!"_ A panicked voice made itself heard over all the other voices echoing inside her head. The effect of that voice was instantaneous. The void world was beginning to fade away now, the voices dying along with it._ "Madiha, please, wake up!" _Someone was shaking her really hard._

"What happened to her?"_ A newer voice asked as she struggled to open her eyes, but it seemed as though they were glued together._

"I don't know." _It was the first voice again._

"Wake her up."_ A third voice growled._

"What does it look like I've been trying to do?"_ The first voice said in irritation as a hand patted her on the face in repeated strokes._

"Syaoran-kun, get some water." _It was another new voice, except this time it was female._

The brown-haired girl was finally able to open her eyes when small droplets of water fell on her face. Maddy found herself looking at Xahra's worried face. Madiha blinked her eyes hard before shaking her head slightly to try and get the nightmare out of her head.

"You can stop patting me now, Xahra." Maddy said as she sat up slowly and wiped her face with her long-sleeved shirt.

"You had me scared to death!" Xahra hit her hard on the head, before catching her in a crushing hug, "don't you ever scare me like that again or I swear I will…"

"Hug. Me. to. Death?" the girl choked as she tried to breath.

"Something along those lines." Xahra said as she let go of her friend.

"What happened?" Sorata asked. It was then that Maddy realized that her entire travelling party, minus Sleeping Beauty aka Princess Sakura, along with their hosts, was present in the room.

"It was just a stupid nightmare." She replied sheepishly as she looked at the ground. "Sorry I woke everybody up."

"Idiot." Grumbled Kurogane as he turned and walked out of the room.

"Jerk." Maddy muttered as she glared at his receding back. This act drew a chuckle from the crazy, overly-cheerful blond and her best friend.

"I'm going to go back to Sakura-hime's room now." Syaoran said as he bowed from around his waist towards Maddy, "Goodnight, Maddy-san, Xahra-san."

"Goodnight, Syaoran." Maddy and Xahra said as they gave the boy an amused smile.

"Sleep tight, Maddy-chan." Fai said cheerfully as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair, making it even messier. He too then turned and left the room.

"That guy is soo…" Xahra started.

"Weird?" Maddy suggested as her friend paused trying to come up with a suitable word.

"No." Xahra shook her head. "I was going to say cute."

"You think all weird guys are cute, Xahra." Maddy rolled her eyes as she looked over at Arashi and Sorata still standing there.

"Go back to sleep, Maddy-chan." Sorata put an arm around his wife's waist, pulling her along as he moved towards the door, "Come, my darling. We should sleep too."

"So what was it about this time?" Xahra asked as she pulled the covers over her body, turning in her futon to face Maddy who had yet to lay back down.

Maddy, drew her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she rested her chin atop her knees. Her older brother's smiling face flashed before her vision and she felt a phantom pain shoot through her chest. "I saw Danish." She answered quietly.

Her friend could only utter a quite 'oh' in response, waiting for Madiha to continue whenever she felt ready to speak.

"I don't remember ever seeing anything that happened in my dream but…"

"You're getting that feeling again, aren't you?" Xahra asked softly.

"He was never shot by those freaking terrorists, Zee," the amber-eyed girl gave a bitter laugh, using the nickname her friend had chosen for herself back in their fourth grade. "_I _was."

Something prickled her eyes and she felt her vision beginning to cloud over. She heard her inhale sharply as she admitted this but she started speaking before Xahra could say anything. "I saw it happen. I'm not sure how but… I was dying… and then suddenly…" a shudder ran down her spine as Goosebumps raised the hair on her skin as she remembered the feel of those chilling slimy hands grabbing onto her. "I wasn't anymore… and then he was there and then… I don't know why I couldn't recall any of this before but I _saw_ it happen with my own eyes."

Distant echoes of people screaming rang in Xahra's ears for a fraction of a second and Xahra could not help but shudder. "Maybe you should talk to someone." She suggested slowly, wondering what her reaction might be to what she was going to say.

"I don't need to see a shrink, Xahra." She spoke acidly, staring of at the wall. "And I definitely _don't_ need another person telling me that its stress that's causing me to have these dreams. I highly doubt the fact that their _brilliant _minds would be able to comprehend what I see."

"Is this one of those 'I can see the future in my dreams and have déjà vu things?'" Xahra asked patiently.

"I don't know _what_ it is," Maddy replied with a frustrated sigh, "but Arashi called it clairvoyance. She said I got it from my grandmother."

"Well, then, maybe you should ask her to tell you more about it." Xahra suggested.

"I was thinking about it myself." Maddy nodded slowly.

"You better do it before tomorrow." The other girl said as she turned over.

"Why?"

"We found the feather that was in this world, so we'll probably be leaving tomorrow." Xahra said with a yawn, "Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight." Maddy said distractedly as she got to her feet and quietly left the room, heading for the roof.

The night was peaceful, a cool breeze playing about her face as she stared out into space.

"So you came." Maddy said softly once a person sat down next to her.

"…"

"I-I… I want you to tell me more about this stuff." Maddy blurted out all of a sudden as she looked at the raven haired woman beside her.

"What is it that is troubling you?" the ex-miko asked gently.

"I dreamt about my brother tonight." Maddy replied quietly, "When I was six, he was shot by some terrorists. He… didn't make it… or so I thought." She added bitterly.

"But that isn't what you saw in your dream." Arashi kept her tone gentle, making her words sound more like a statement then a question.

"No." the girl shook her head.

"It is not my place to tell you what the truth is." Arashi told her. "What you saw, what you were led to believe and what happened are three very different things. What you choose as the truth is something entirely up to you."

"Is it possible to travel to the past in dreams?" Maddy asked quietly.

"Very powerful dream-seers are able to travel across dimensions in their dreams," Arashi replied. "Time flows differently in different places, so yes. It is a possibility."

"How about your own past?" Maddy asked.

"Anyone can see that in their dreams." The older woman answered wisely.

"No," she shook her head, "not _see_, I mean travel. As in 'can you go and talk to people who you met in the past?'"

"Did you talk to someone?" Arashi decided to ask.

Maddy hesitated at first but then after a few minutes had passed, she made up her mind. "I talked with Danish. My brother," she said as she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, "He knew I was there and he…" she trailed off, heaving a sigh as she saw her brother's smiling face flash across her line of vision.

"Dreams are very strange things." Arashi said cryptically, after a few moments of silence.

"Strange?" Maddy gave a bitter laugh. "More like completely messed up."

"Ouch!" Xahra exclaimed as she landed on the ground in a very uncomfortable position.

"You got that right. Ouch." Came Maddy's muffled voice from somewhere beneath the raven-haired girl, "Stupid rabbit doesn't even know how to land." She grumbled as she got off the ground and looked at her friend whilst straightening her glasses.

They were once again dressed in their original clothes, Xahra wearing a baggy red t-shirt over blue jeans and Maddy wearing a loose black and white button-up shirt over brown capris. They had both bought themselves a pair of shoes from Hanshin Republic so that they wouldn't have to walk around with bare feet. Maddy's were black joggers, while Xahra had chosen to buy a pair of brown sandals.

"Where are the others?" Maddy asked suddenly as she looked around only to find that she and Xahra were the only ones present in a vast, grassy field.

"Whoa! Check it out." Xahra exclaimed in awe as she ran towards something behind her friend. Turning around, Maddy felt her jaw literally drop to the ground. There, at a distance of twenty feet from them stood a magnificent stone structure. It was almost ten feet tall and seemed to be some sort of intricately designed archway, with runes and carvings on the thick stones it was built out of.

"Xahra-san! Maddy-san!" a young, female voice called out from somewhere behind the stone structure. Looking closely, Maddy realized that the rest of their companions were on the other side of the structure. As she grew nearer, Maddy heard loud cursing coming from Kurogane. The ninja was in the middle of throttling a white fuzzy creature while said creature laughed merrily.

Next to the two were Fai and the princess who was now thankfully awake, watching Syaoran as he scampered about the tall structure, eyes shining with excitement as he made mental notes about the engravings.

"Hyuu! That's an impressive looking portal." Fai said once the two girls came to stand next to them.

"Portal?" Maddy raised her brow skeptically, "How can you tell? It seems like a big gate to me."

"A gate to where?" Fai challenged with a knowing grin, "As far as I can see." He emphasized this by pretending to look around, "this seems to be the only structure for miles."

"You're doing this to annoy me, aren't you?" Maddy sighed as she realized what the man was trying to do.

"Yup." He replied happily.

"Right." She rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Syaoran, only to find that the teenager was no longer in her line of sight. She looked around whilst muttering; "now where did _he_ go?"

"Syaoran-kun!" the princess also known as Sakura gasped suddenly as said boy pushed a protruding slab of engraved stone into the side wall of the stone structure. No sooner had he done that, then a blinding white light rendered everyone unable to see anything for some time. As soon as the light vanished a thick mist enveloped them. Strangely enough even though she could not see anything else around her, Maddy could see her friend and fellow travelers and the gate.

The bright sun that had been shining moments ago was no longer visible in the sky. As a matter of fact, looking around Xahra realized that nothing was visible anymore; everything seemed to be enveloped in the plain grey.

"The gate is opening!" Mokona said as it hopped from Kurogane's hands to the top of Fai's head.

"It would be smart if we stepped away from here" Fai suggested, about to do exactly that, but was stopped by Mokona.

"Mokona can feel a feather on the other side." It said as it began bounce around.

"What about this side, rabbit?" Maddy asked in annoyance as she swatted it away with her hand after it landed on her head.

"Mokona couldn't sense anything before the gate opened." Was the white creature's reply as it now landed on a very irritated ninja's head.

"Throw that thing on someone else next time. And you!" He grunted as he caught hold of the white thing and addressed it after bringing to close to his face, "Land somewhere else or I'm going to cook and eat you." The red eyed man then proceeded to fling the white creature across the field.

"You realize you just threw Mokona across the gate." Xahra said as she sweat dropped.

"So?" the ninja shrugged nonchalantly.

"It means that you just flung our only means to get back home into some unknown world all by itself." Maddy said, irritation lacing her voice.

"Guys." Fai tried to catch their attention.

"I can find my own way back." The ninja replied stubbornly as he chose to ignore the mage.

"You might be able to sprout wings and hop across dimensions, Blackie," Maddy said heatedly, "but Xahra and I unfortunately lack the ability to do so."

"That's not my problem." Kurogane replied coolly.

"But it is ours, you big jerk!" Maddy said, ignoring Xahra's tug on her sleeve to get her attention.

"Guys!" Fai said loudly, finally stopping the two in their little verbal spar.

"What?" both said in unison as they turned to glare at him.

"Everybody else has crossed to the other side," Fai said as he himself started to walk towards the looming stone structure.

This shut them up for good as they silently followed Fai. Another blinding flash of white light later, the group found themselves in forest of some sort. It seemed to be almost time for sunset on this side. Syaoran was discussing the ruins next to the ancient-looking version of the same gate with Xahra and Sakura, while Fai was listening to Mokona moan about a Kuro-meanie. This new nickname made a smile tug at the corners of Maddy's mouth as the aggravated ninja yelled, "IT'S KUROGANE! DAMN IT!" It was kind of funny how many different variations you could come up with just removing the second half of his name and inserting random words in it's place. The fact that this irritated him made it only added to the hilarity. Ignoring the two men who stood next to her, Maddy made her way over to Syaoran and the other two girls.

"This gate seems to be used regularly," Syaoran was telling them, barely able to keep his excitement controlled, "This part is kept relatively clean and in good condition as compared to the rest of the ruins."

"So what do you propose we do now, O fearless leader?" Maddy asked with a mock bow in his direction.

"Ah, Maddy-san…" Syaoran started, looking slightly confused and embarrassed.

"Since we are all here thanks to you, I thought you'd know what we ought to do next." Maddy said, enjoying the nervous way in which Syaoran was fidgeting as she talked. _"Don't tell me he hasn't talked to girls before. Wonder if he was like this around Sleeping Beauty as well?"_

"Maddy, stop teasing him." Xahra chided her friend, "I'm sure we'll come up with something. We could go look for some town or village that might be near here."

"It's almost sunset," Maddy said looking up in the sky to see the orange hue spreading through one side of the blue, the side opposite to it turning a deeper shade of blue, "so I think that won't be a very smart idea. We might get lost in the dark."

"We could just set up camp here." Kurogane grunted as he and the magician walked over to them.

"Well that's a great idea, Kurogane, but…" Maddy started only to fall silent when Kurogane raised his hand in alarm, listening around for something. Syaoran and Fai also stiffened slightly as though they heard something the girls had not. A rustling in the nearby bushes set everyone on alert. Suddenly someone jumped out of the undergrowth and attacked Sakura.

"Who are you?" a feminine, yet dangerous voice growled as something silver glinted next to Sakura's neck.

Far away in a distant dimension, the group was being observed by a pair of narrowed eyes.

"So, the witch has decided to add one of her own. No matter," Said a mildly amused voice, "I _will_ succeed this time around." The owner of the voice said, as he raised a gold goblet to his lips and took a sip from the liquid. "After all, my newest pawn is far stronger than yours…"


	8. Citadel: Horses are evil

_**A/N: ch 7, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 7:**

"_Who are you?" a feminine voice growled dangerously as something silver glinted next to Sakura's neck._

"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran cried in alarm as he started towards the captured girl but stopped immediately once he saw the dagger press deeper against the auburn haired girl's skin. Her captor was a female dressed in dark robes, the hood pulled over her head to obscure her face.

"Let the girl go." Kurogane ordered calmly although one could feel faint waves of anger radiating off of him.

"Answer my questions first and I'll think about it." the female responded.

"Well then what is it that you want to know miss." Fay said with a bright grin as he took a few steps in her direction.

"Stay where you are." The woman barked, halting the magician in his steps, his grin faltering a fraction of an inch as the blade pressed harder into the princess's slender neck, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Fay D Flourite," the blond responded, keeping his tone light and carefree, "These are my fellow travelers, Syaoran-kun, Xahra-chan, Maddy-chan, Sakura-chan and Kuro…"

"Kurogane." The ninja interrupted before he could have his name mutilated by the blue-eyed man.

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked.

"We're searching for something that Sakura-hime has lost." Syaoran answered this time.

"You're not from around here," the woman said, "did you come through that portal?"

"Why do you ask?" Fay asked pleasantly.

"Just answer the question."

"Yeah, we did." Maddy replied as she took a couple of steps forward as well. "Now can you at least tell us why the hell you are investigating us like this?"

"Who do you work for?" the woman ignored Maddy.

"No one." Syaoran replied, "Please let Sakura-hime go."

"What are you doing here?" the woman repeated. Maddy noticed Sakura paling somewhat, her lips losing color as her body swayed, falling backwards in her captor's arms. Time for a nap.

The sudden movement caught her attacker of guard, causing her to fall along with the princess; the dagger flying out of her hand as she landed. This was all the chance Kurogane and Syaoran had been waiting for. The brown haired boy quickly retrieved the princess while the ninja captured the hooded woman pinning her arms above her head. As soon as the unconscious princess was off of her, the woman spun her lower body, bringing her leg along to the right causing the red-eyed man to let go of her in order to block the attack. The woman let the momentum carry her upwards as she spun and landed on her feet after pushing against the ground with both her hands. She took up a fighting stance just as Fay and Xahra got on either sides of her, somewhat trapping her in the middle. Syaoran gave his beloved princess to Maddy before moving back towards the woman.

_Great! I get to babysit the unconscious damsel while they get to kick some butt._ Maddy mentall complained as she dragged the princess's body a little distance away from the others to keep out of the way in case a fight broke out.

The woman slowly reached inside the sleeves of her robes before withdrawing her hands, holding sharp metallic needles in between her fingers.

"Give up, why don't you?" Kurogane said, the amusement in his voice showing on his face, "you're outnumbered kid."

Kid?

"Either you are underestimating me," the woman taunted, "or you're too scared."

"You wish." Kurogane grinned manically in response to that.

He ducked and flipped to the side as soon as the girl flicked her hands, avoiding the needles just in time. Syaoran and Fay also dodged the incoming objects with ease; however Xahra's reaction was a bit slow. She gasped as one of the sharp needles embedded itself in her arm.

Every one stilled as they heard the sounds of galloping horses in the distance along with shouts from men.

"She must be headed towards the portal." The heard a man bark, "stop her before she gets away."

"Oh shit!" the woman cursed as her body stiffened, her hand tightened around something in her neck. "You're with Mephistophele, aren't you?" she hissed angrily.

"Mephisto-what?" Xahra repeated.

"Don't play dumb. You're working for the emperor." The woman's voice was laced with venom as something flashed on the back of her hand wrapped around the object she had slung from her neck. "I am _not _going giving it to you or those cronies of yours." She spat as she raised her hand and it caught fire.

"Ah! Her hand is on fire." Mokona cried out as it poked from underneath Maddy's scarf that she had wrapped around her neck.

"It is," the woman said as she jerked her head to throw the hood off of her face. The person whom they had all assumed to be a woman was actually a girl in her late teens, probably eighteen or nineteen at most. She had a delicate fairy-like face with disheveled raven hair falling in her grey eyes which flashed in the fire as she looked in their direction, "and soon you will be too." She threw a punch in their direction, a brilliant ball of fire shooting out from her outstretched fist, speeding towards Maddy, Mokona and the unconscious princess. She had no idea how but miraculously enough Maddy managed to get out of the way, lugging the dead weight of the princess along just in time as the ball hit the dried up tree behind her which then exploded in flames.

"I can see fire." Those voices had grown closer, "she's this way."

"Get that gemstone back no matter what!" An authoritative voice shouted as the voices drew closer and closer, Maddy was unable to see how close they had gotten since the forest had grown dark very quickly after the sun had descended closer to the horizon.

"There she is!" they heard a cry as an arrow whizzed through the air in the now, de-hooded girl's direction. Just a split second before it could have hit the girl, a wall of flame surrounded the girl, burning the arrow up. The same fate was met by all the other arrows shot in her direction.

"Aim for her accomplices." The captain ordered his men. "She can't protect herself _and _them at the same time."

"Accomplices?" the woman spat angrily, "don't try to pit your scum with me you bastards! I'm doing this on my own."

"Aim…" the captain told his men.

"Oh shit…" Maddy cursed under her breath realizing that she didn't have much chance in saving herself and the girl that had been dumped on her from the sharp arrows.

"Fire!" dozens of arrows were let loose, at least twenty of them headed in her direction. Maddy sat there frozen in shock as she watched them grow closer and closer. She had heard of people seeing their whole life flash before their eyes as they were about to die but never in her life had she heard of anyone listing ratios and combinations of various elements in their head. Carbon, Silicon, Lithium, Hilium. Funnily enough the names of those four elements sprang to the forefront of her mind as the arrows sailed through the air towards her and the unconscious princess.

"Maddy move!" she heard Xahra cried out in alarm. Her mind grew blank, though she heard a distinct clapping sound followed by a flash of blinding blue light. Next came the dull thuds of the arrows embedding themselves into their intended target, however when the expected pain did not come, Maddy squinted open her eyes only to find herself… hidden safely behind a wall of earth?

"What the…" she heard Kurogane and the woman say at the same time. '_What the' indeed. How had that wall gotten there? I had been directly in the line of fire. My kudan could not have jumped worlds with me so what just happened?_

"She's got the other gemstone!" the captain yelled, "capture them all!"

"Aim… fire!"

"How did Maddy do that?" Mokona asked the girl as she stared at the wall with her mouth hanging open.

"I… I don't know." Replied the girl in shock, hearing the muted thuds of the arrows embedding themselves in the wall again.

"Let's get out of here." Fay's face suddenly poked from around the wall as he relieved her of Sakura, slinging the unconscious girl over his shoulder, "You're not hurt, are you Maddy-chan?" the blond asked in concern when the girl did not move.

"Huh? N-no…. I'm fine." The brown haired girl jumped to her feet grabbing Mokona in the process. "Is everyone else okay?"

"They're holding the soldiers off. Kuro-tan asked me to come get you three." Fay said as he poked his head around the wall to see if the coast was clear. Xahra, Syaoran, Kurogane and the robed girl were all busy fighting the soldiers, Kurogane had stolen the sword of one of the soldiers he had knocked off the horse while Syaoran was dodging blows and kicking the men he got close to, same went for Xahra who was barely managing it while the robed girl was fighting the men with enough skill to almost rival Kurogane.

_**Xahra's POV:**_

"Fire!" Dozens of arrows were let loose, at least twenty of them headed in Maddy's direction as the girl remained rooted to her spot.

"Maddy move!" Xahra cried out in alarm as the projectiles grew nearer and nearer. She saw Maddy clap her hands and hit the ground, a blinding white light enveloping her and Sakura only a split second later. When the light cleared, Xahra's jaw dropped open at the sight before her. An intricately designed wall made out of earth had risen in front of her friend, acting as a shield for her from the arrows.

"What the…" Kurogane and the robed woman muttered simultaneously.

_Whoa!_ Was all that she could think of.

"She's got the other gemstone!" the captain yelled, "capture them all!"

"Aim… fire!"

"Oye, mage!" Kurogane barked at the blond, "Get the girl and princess. We're taking the horses and getting out of here."

_Horses? _Thought Xahra. _Uh-oh. This means trouble. _But before she could dwell on this anymore, she was pushed aside by Syaoran as the boy kicked the soldier who had tried to sneak up on her.

"Are you okay Xahra-san?" the boy asked, momentarily looking back at her before turning his attention back to the oncoming soldier.

"I'm fine. Thanks." The girl replied as she got back to her feet. She readied herself for her next opponent and joined in the fight, waiting for Fay to get back with the other two girls so that they could get away.

"Watch your back." The hooded girl said to her as she knocked out three soldiers coming at the raven haired girl from behind, using her flame.

"You're helping us?" Xahra asked, slightly surprised to see the girl pick up two swords from the ground and get ready to fight.

"It's clear that you're not with them." Was all the answer she got.

They continued fighting, with Xahra barely able to keep up while the hooded girl and Kurogane kicked some serious butt. Syaoran was also turning out to be a big help. His kicks were simply awesome.

_**Maddy's POV:**_

"We can get away much more easily if we grab their horses." Fay suggested as he ducked to avoid the swipe that a soldier had taken at his head, kicking his legs from underneath him to stop him from attacking the girl with him.

Chaos was all around them as the two made their way towards their companions. How Maddy had avoided being sliced into two so far, escaped the girl. She was the worst fighter in the entire group save for Sakura, but who knew. Maybe even she knew a thing or two about how to survive in a battle. Maddy on the other hand…

"Um, Fay..." Maddy said as she jumped to the side to avoid one of the sword aimed towards her. She spun around and landed a kick on the soldiers back, making him lose balance and fall to the ground, face first.

"Wow! I had no idea I could do that!" she exclaimed happily, watching her handiwork in awe.

"Come on Maddy-chan!" Fay grabbed her hand and dragged her along, letting go once he was sure the girl was following. "Rule number one while in battle: never stand there like a sitting duck waiting to be hit," Fay told her as they finally managed to get close to their friends.

"Sorry." Maddy replied sheepishly as she saw something silver glint through the corner of her eye. Most of the trees around them had caught fire, thanks to the hooded girl's balls of flame however the horses were trapped inside along with the soldiers and the travelers group.

Maddy bent down to pick up the dagger, luckily avoiding the soldier who had swung at her head from behind. Fay easily knocked the sword out of his hand and kicked the man back.

_Nice_. Maddy thought, _He did that while holding onto Sakura._

"Come on Maddy." Xahra yelled as she grabbed the reigns of a nearby horse and swung herself on top of it.

The others following her example save for Maddy who was looking around her like an idiot.

"Hello." Maddy almost screamed in frustration at her friend. "I _cannot_ ride a horse!"

"Oh. Sorry." Xahra said as she raced towards the girl intending to help her friend get on her ride.

"Yaaaa!" Maddy yelped in surprise as strong arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her up. Thinking that it was the captain or some soldier who had managed to catch her, Maddy brought her hand around in a punch, aiming for the head of the man behind her only to have it caught by… Kurogane?

"Hang on." Kurogane grunted as he let go of her hand and caught hold of the reigns flicking them with his hands to make the horse run.

"Whooaaa…" the girl said as she clung to the ninja for her dear life, scared out of her mind. _I am not riding a horse. I am not riding a horse. I am not riding a horse… _she muttered under her breath making Kurogane snort.

"I'm scared of riding animals, okay?" she cried out as she tightened her grip once Kurogane sped up his animal, "Aaah!" she screamed as the horse jumped through the wall of flame and made it to the other side. Maddy squeezed her eyes shut as she kept chanting her mantra.

_**Xahra's POV:**_

"Come on Maddy!" Xahra yelled once she noticed that her friend was close by so she grabbed the reigns of nearest horse and swung herself on to it like she had seen in some movies. _I honestly did not think this would have worked._ Xahra thought, pleased that she had managed to do it.

That was when she noticed her friend looking around like an idiot while the others mounted.

"Hello." Xahra could hear the frustration in her voice. "I _cannot_ ride a horse"

"Oh. Sorry." Xahra said sheepishly as she remembered why horse riding was going to be a problem. She flicked the reigns of her horse and sped in her friend's direction, hoping to pull the girl on her horse but stopped short when she noticed Kurogane stop behind the brown haired girl and seat her on his horse with a look that clearly said _this is too much trouble._

He said something to Maddy before flicking the reigns of his horse, motioning for the others to follow.

"Whooaaa…" she heard Maddy yell in surprise as she clung to the ninja, probably scared out of her mind.

_I am not riding a horse. I am not riding a horse. I am not riding a horse… _Xahra could almost imagine her friend muttering this mantra under her breath. This was confirmed when she heard Maddy cry out defensively, "I'm scared of riding animals, okay?"

Returning her attention to the direction she was heading in, Xahra gulped in fright. They were going to have to jump through the flames. The girl squeezed her eye shut as the unbearable heat grew closer and closer. A cool wave of fresh air hit her face immediately after she passed through the burning wall.

"Is Maddy-san hurt?" she heard Syaoran ask Kurogane, causing her to open her eyes and look for her friend in alarm. The girl had her eyes shut tightly as she clung onto Kurogane. _Oh the possibilities! _Xahra's inner demon thought as it saw this sight. _ So many ways that I could use this to my advantage._

_Shut up! She can be hurt! _Xahra mentally screamed at her brain.

"I don't think so." She heard Kurogane reply.

_Hehehe… _the inner demon gave a creepy laugh.

"Then what's wrong with her?" this time it was Fay who asked.

"She's scared of horse riding." Xahra could not help but laugh as she said this.

"Mokona didn't think Maddy would be scared of anything." The white fluff ball laughed as it emerged from Fay's coat.

"It's not funny!" Maddy yelled defensively, "Horses are evil!"

"Your friend is quite amusing." The hooded girl said as she sped her horse to come next to Xahra who was riding near the back with Fay.

"You have no idea." Xahra chuckled lightly.

_**Maddy's POV:**_

"Is Maddy-san hurt?" she heard Syaoran's concerned voice yell close by over the beating of the hooves against the earth.

"I don't think so." Kurogane's deep voice spoke from somewhere above her.

"Then what's wrong with her?" this time it was Fay, asking in confusion.

"She's scared of horse riding." Xahra replied with a laugh.

"I didn't think Maddy would be scared of anything." Mokona laughed along with her friend somewhere.

"It's not funny! Horses are evil!" Maddy yelled indignantly as she looked at her friend and companions. They were passing through some sort of plain now, kind of like the one they had arrived in at the previous world, half a moon shone in the sky, illuminating everything just enough for her to make out vague shapes of mountains in the distance.

"Oh damn!" Maddy cursed as she realized that she had opened her eyes and could actually see that she was on a horse's back. _Not riding a horse. Not riding a horse. Not riding a horse… _she started muttering, squeezing her eyes shut once more. Maddy was too scared out of her mind to even care about the deep rumbling chuckles she heard from the man behind her. Just wait till she had her feet on solid ground once more. She was so busy thinking up plans of revenge against the evil creature beneath her and that evil girl she had called her best friend that she failed to notice a newer voice join in their group's conversation.

They rode on for what felt like ages but finally Kurogane slowed down the animal they were riding on.

"You should all stay behind me." Maddy opened her eyes when she heard the voice of the hooded girl speak.

They had arrived next to what seemed like another intricately carved stone structure. Parts of the grand structure glinted in the moonlight as the girl rode her horse closer towards it. It was quite similar to the portal back in the forest except that this one had crystals and gemstone embedded in it along with the carvings whereas that portal had none. Although this was also an archway but the path beneath it was shut with heavy blocks of stones, each individual unit taller than Maddy herself.

"I've returned guys." The girl spoke as she got closer to the gate.

A small section in one of the stones slide aside to reveal another hooded figure, the person stepped outside and made his way to the woman.

"Who are the strangers?" a young voice asked in distrust.

"Travelers." The girl replied, as she dismounted the horse. "You can get off as well." she told the group. Everyone obeyed except for Kurogane and Maddy. Maddy noticed everyone eyes land on her and that was when she realized something. She was clinging on to Kurogane!

"Aaaaa!" cried the girl as she instantly let go, tumbling off the horse's back in the process.

Kurogane's expression remained stoic as ever but even Xahra could tell that the ninja was amused by her friend's antics. She walked over to Maddy and helped the dazed girl to her feet.

"Don't even dare!' Maddy growled dangerously as she saw the expression on Xahra's face.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Xahra said her mischievous smile still in place which caused Maddy to role her eyes as the group walked towards the gap in the stone block. Syaoran was carrying Sakura Mokona was on Fay's shoulder while Kurogane was silently walking at the back. Once inside the gap, the group was immersed in pitch black darkness before a soft white glow surrounded them.

Maddy and Xahra's jaws feel open as they looked at the sight that was before them…

-0-

"So it seems they have arrived." The mirror seer observed the group as vanished into the small gap in the stone gate.

"When will we be able to make a move?" a feminine voice asked from the shadows behind him.

"That time will come. Sooner than you might expect."

_**A/N: another update. Yay! **_

_**I thought Maddy was getting way to serious and angsty in the last chapter so… tada! Here is the freaked out and childish side of the girl. I know there wasn't a lot of description about this new world in this chappy but don't worry, I'll try my level best to help you imagine what this place is like.**_

_**Oh and just so you know, Fay or Kurogane are not attracted towards Maddy or Xahra in the romantic sense. All the stuff they did back then was to keep the girls alive, nothing else, since in a way being the males and the more experienced fighters of the group they are responsible for them. Sort of… hehehe.**_

_**Btw, Xahra used to take combat training classes in school while Maddy did not so this is the reason why Xahra is better at fighting then the other girl. But she is not really that great when it comes to the guys because unlike them, she never had to use it outside of class thus the inexperience.**_

_**Maddy used to go for horse riding just like Xahra while she had lived in the garrison (Maddy's father is in the army.) but then one day she had had an incident with the horse she was supposed to ride which lead to her current fear of the creatures.**_

_**Don't forget to review.**_

_**Ciao!**_

**So you wish to change what you originally asked from me?**_ The scene around her had changed once again, since now she was standing in a stone-walled room. Right next to her was another Maddy, just the same age as she was, sitting on a comfortable-looking bed with a sleeping Mokona in her lap. The rabbit's jewel was glowing slightly as it projected an image of Yuuko on the wall before her. The witch was wearing a light blue kimono with a deep blue sash around her waist, and was looking at the girl with a passive face._

**I do**_ her other dream self, the one who was now her own age, spoke in a determined tone._

**In that case, your previous price will no longer be sufficient, **_Yuuko said softly as Maddy's surroundings changed yet again, dissolving into a strange, bubbling mass before vanishing in wisps of black smoke._

_For what felt like eons, time seemed to stand still as the runes crashed into the girl's body, disappearing into her flesh. The pressing silence was back once more, but it lasted only for a few seconds. Suddenly, the girl started to writhe and jerk violently as though if having a fit, her screams and cries of pain and agony were the only things she could hear, making Madiha clutch her head in pain as she tried uselessly tried to block out those anguished cries. It seemed as though if there was no way for her to get out of this hellish nightmare, other than wait for it to finish. But the screams were too much for her to bear._

NOTE: explain why she hates the forces. Also explain the scene of her brother's death in more detail or rather what happened.

"Why is that?" Mokona asked.

"When she was little," Xahra said with a sad sigh, "her brother was killed by some terrorists. She thinks the police and the army investigators are all incompetent jerks who don't give a damn about others."

"Why would she think that?" Fai asked, his tone full of innocent curiosity.

"Neither of them was able to track down the killers," She replied, "which is why she hates that line of profession."

"Shouldn't you go talk to her?" Syaoran asked.

"She likes to be left alone when she's having one of her mood swings." The girl replied with a shake of her head, "Don't worry; she'll be fine in the morning."


	9. Citadel: Interrogations and Confessions

_**A/N: ch 8, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 8:**

The grey-eyed teen that they had met in the forest near the ruins actually turned out to be the commander of a group of rebels and the place she had brought them all to was a city by the name of Citadel- the base of the rebel activities.

The group of dimension travelers had been given a place to stay in one of the residential areas of the city. Funnily enough though, they could not leave the house without an escort of some sort, since there was a war going on and they were total strangers. Even if they claimed to be travelers, the rebel leader named Naomi, had apologized for the rudeness when placing them under house arrest.

She had told them that if she was satisfied once she had questioned the group personally with her second in command, Ian, she would let them go. Till then they would have to put up with the restrictions.

Citadel was unlike any city the girls, had ever seen before. As a matter of fact none of them had ever seen anything like it. The gate through which they had arrived was the eastern gate which was somewhat at a raised level as compared to the settlement which was located in valley.

Countless tall stone pillars located the distance of four feet surrounded the city. A strange sort of shimmering silvery white energy field was generated by these pillars, which was actually visible only from the inner side. The houses in which people lived around here themselves were built out of stone, with vast grassy lawn. Stone pillars similar to the one surrounding the city, bordered the perimeter of these houses.

The next day two armed soldiers had shown up at the place they were staying at.

One was a small, silvery-blond haired girl, while the other was a burly and bald man. They both had asked Madiha to accompany them to the interrogation centre where Naomi and Ian were waiting for her. When asked why they only wanted her to come, the bald man had simply shrugged and told her that she would find out once they got there. With no other choice, the brown haired girl had risen from her spot on the floor and followed the two out the door.

Inside this city, Maddy found out on her way to the centre, people went about their daily businesses. Children laughed and played about in the streets, men and women walked around paying no mind to the strangely dressed girl being escorted by the two soldiers. Once or twice though, someone would stop walking to wave at her escorts or stop to exchange greeting or two.

Trees lined the well built and broad roads, even as they neared the area which was something like a market place. Maddy saw stalls and shops of various sorts as they passed through the area. On the other side of the market place, the roads grew smaller in width but the trees still remained to provide shade and fresh air. The soldiers led her to a domed building with wide archways and tall circular stone pillars.

The rebel leader, Naomi stood next to a rather handsome looking guy. He seemed to be around twenty or something and was currently leaning against one the stone pillars. He was observing her walk up the stone steps with a calculating look.

"She's the one?" he asked Naomi in an unimpressed tone, once the brown-haired girl had climbed all the way to the top.

"Yes Ian," Naomi replied patiently. "This is Madiha."

"There's no way in hell that she can possess the gemstone." The guy, Ian shook his head as he straightened and turned around.

"Are you questioning what I saw?" Naomi narrowed her eyes.

"No." Ian shook his head once more. "But it's really hard to believe. I mean, just take a look at her."

"Hey! I'm standing right here you know." Maddy said in cross tone.

"Doesn't seem to have any sense of self-preservance either," The guy sighed.

"If you are done insulting me, can we get this stupidity over with?" Maddy fumed, glaring daggers at the guy's back.

-0-

"You know," Maddy yelled, pointing an accusatory finger in Xahra's direction, the moment she rushed back into the room. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault?" Xahra repeated in astonishment, looking up at the girl. "How?"

"You just _had _to make me play that stupid game." Maddy muttered crossly as she looked away. It was evening by now and the sun had almost set.

"You're still mad about the game?" the raven-haired girl asked in a monotone. Apparently she was used to her friend's behavior.

"Why shouldn't I be?" the other girl cried. "It's already been six days! We are far away from home, being held captive in God knows where, for who knows how long? And to top it off we are getting questioned like some sort of criminals! Those jerks kept me there for six freaking hours!"

"Sorry." Xahra said quietly.

"Our parents will be worried sick once they find out that we went missing." Maddy added in a lower tone as she slumped on one of the soft cushions placed on the floor.

"…" Xahra simply lowered her head in response to that, choosing to stare at her own feet.

Sensing the other girl's misery, Maddy decided to shut up. After all even if she didn't show it, Xahra was having the same thoughts as herself.

"I'm going out," the brunette sighed after a while as she got up from her spot on the floor and left the room.

"Are Xahra and Maddy missing their home?" Mokona asked sadly as it hopped over to the remaining girls.

"Yeah," The raven haired girl replied, as she absentmindedly picked up the white dimension hopper and began patting its head. "I guess we are."

-0-

Fay and Kurogane were sitting in the room next to the one in which Xahra had been. Syaoran had chosen to stay by his unconscious princess's side. The magician glanced out the window to see the orange tinted sky. It had been almost six hours and Madiha still had not returned.

"_You know, this is all, your fault!" _came the accusatory yell of a female from the next room. Think of the devil.

"Hyuu. Looks like Maddy-chan is mad again," Fay told his stoic companion.

"_My fault?"_ They heard Xahra's astonished voice repeat. _"How?"_

"Nothing new about that," Kurogane snorted in disinterest.

"_You just _had_ to make me play that stupid game." _Maddy's low answer was heard by the two.

"_You're still mad about the game?"_ Xahra's tone was dejected.

Hearing the defeated voice of the otherwise cheerful girl, the magician felt sorry for the two. After all they had been pulled away from their homes by some sort of board game if he remembered correctly. Forced to give up things they held dear to find a way back home. Or 'end this game' as Madiha had put it back at the dimension witch's shop.

"_Why shouldn't I be?" _Came Maddy's cry,_ "It's already been six days! We are far away from home, being held captive in God knows where, for who knows how long? And to top it off we are getting questioned like some sort of criminals! Those jerks kept me there for six freaking hours!"_

Fay could not understand clearly but it seemed as if the Xahra had apologized to her friend quietly.

"_Our parents will be worried sick once they find out that we went missing."_ Madiha's voice had lost all of its anger; rather it was now sad and depressed.

"Guess she's worried about her family," Fay noted in a lower tone, causing his red-eyed companion to look at him. Noticing his gaze Fay gave the man a wide grin before he spoke in a sly tone, "but I think Kuro-chan is worried about somebody back home too."

"I thought I told you to quit it with the stupid names," the ninja growled as he looked away. Fay was positive that the slight reddish tint on the other man's cheeks was not the effect of the light cast by the setting sun.

"Oooh," Fay's grin widened. "So Kuro-pipi _does_ have somebody back home."

"Shut it mage," Kurogane's low rumble should have been enough to warn any sane man to keep their mouth shut. But as far as the blond magician was concerned, Kurogane highly doubted that the man even knew of the word.

"Are you two going to chat all day long?" the bald man entered their room with a frown on his visage. "Hurry up, Ian doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Sorry," Fay chirped as he sauntered out of the room. "Let's go Kuro-chan."

"Damn it you idiotic magician!" Kurogane yelled as he followed the two men. "Quit it with the nicknames!"

"Wah! Kuro-tan got angry…" Fay cried in mock fear as he hid behind the silver haired girl. Before Kurogane could proceed to throttle the blond, their escort cleared his throat loudly.

"We should get going now." He told them before pointedly turning around and marching off towards the exit.

-0-

"Send the boy and the girl outside now," the burly, dark skinned man accompanying them ordered the minute the four of them walked through the two tall stone pillars which served as the gate. A translucent sort of silver shield was visible, surrounding the entire area they were in now, once they were on this side of the pillars. It was actually quite similar to the shield which served as the walls around the city.

"Which girl do you mean?" Fay asked politely.

"The dark haired one," replied the man.

"How long will it take for you to question them?" the blond questioned as they proceeded to make their way towards their temporary residence.

"That depends on Naomi and Ian," the small female answered this time. Her silvery blond hair glistened slightly in the moonlight as she flicked them over her shoulder. Despite her small stature, Fay was not, for even a second, fooled into thinking that she did not know how to fight. The barely visible yet old and thin scars on pale skin told the tales of her battles. The way this girl moved around with ease and grace yet calm and calculating mind, assessing everything that took place around her, had even told Kurogane not to underestimate the girl.

"Would they like to talk to Sakura-chan after that as well?" Fay cocked his head to one side, giving the girl his full attention.

"Has that girl woken up yet?" the small warrior lifted her brow.

"I don't think so." Fay shook his head, "which is why I had asked."

"We'll let you know when we drop those two off." The bald headed man answered.

"Ah. Well, I'll go get them then," Fay waved at the two as he walked in through the silvery black shimmering sheet of water like material that served as the door.

After a short while, Fay remerged from the door along with Syaoran and Xahra. The girl gulped visibly once she cast a look at one of their soon to be escorts.

"Let's go." The silver haired girl said with a commanding air as she turned on her heels and led the two teens down the grassy lawns towards the stone pillars. The burly guy brought up the rear. Fay watched them walk out of the silver barrier before heaving a quiet sigh.

Poor Syaoran… anyone who saw him and the princess could easily tell that they were made for each other. If life were a fairytale then those two would have had an ending with a happily ever after. Alas, life as it seemed, was not. So here they were, paying a heavy price just to stay alive.

His attention then turned to his red-eyed companion. It seemed that the ninja was sent on a journey of self-discovery. Sure, he would succeed in that, but this journey was going to make that big guy discover so much more.

_Promise me you won't give up, Fai. _A voice rang distantly in the back of his mind somewhere. _Even when I'm gone…_ Feeling another presence nearby, the magician quickly came out of his reverie, only to find Kurogane standing behind him. So the ninja had not gone inside yet.

"Thinking about something?" Kurogane crossed his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Not really." Fay gave a small shrug as a smile appeared on his face.

"Keep the manju bun out of my room," the ninja ordered gruffly. This house that they had been given to stay, consisted of four bedrooms. Maddy and Xahra had taken one of the rooms; Syaoran had opted to stay by Sakura's side, leaving behind one room for the remaining two members each.

"Ah," Fay's smile transformed to a full blown grin. "Kuro-tan needs time to read his picture books."

"What?" the ninja almost yelped. Almost. Ninja's do not yelp. Nope. Never.

"I saw you stash them away back in Hanshin. But don't worry," the blond magician patted the red-eyed man's arm. "I won't tell anyone you like to read children books."

"Why you little… they're called manga," Kurogane growled as he swatted the smaller man's arm away. "And they are _not_ books for brats."

"Of course, of course," the other man laughed, "they're books for big bad ninjas."

"Will the two of you take your lovely conversation about comic books inside the stupid house?" the ninja had opened his mouth to speak but the irritated voice that they both had heard had not been of the red-eyed man. The two of them blinked before looking up to see an annoyed Maddy glaring at them from the edge of the roof.

"Sorry about that Maddy-chan," Fay chirped before the other man could have replied. "Kuro-tan was just about to go back inside anyways."

"Hey wait just a…"

"Now now Kuro-puu, go save your picture books before Mokona hides all of them." Fay pushed the man through the liquid door, which strangely enough did not leave the man soaked at all. As a matter of fact, none of them ever got wet as they walked through the black shimmering liquid. They all just passed through as if it wasn't even there.

Once the ninja was safely on the other side, Fay dared to cast a look around him. He had been pretty sure that there was no way to get to the roof. He had not seen any stairs or ladders which could have been used to climb up there.

"How did she…" he mused as he walked to the side of the stone house. That was when he noticed the vine. "Don't tell me she actually used that."

The blue-eyed man walked closer to the object, eyes narrowing slightly as he observed the broken leaves and smaller branches at various points along its entire length till it reached the roof. It wasn't that climbing that vine was what amazed the man. No it had been the fact that the girl had been able to climb it that shocked him. The way that girl moved about, the way she had fought those boys back in Hanshin, the way she had acted with the soldiers that evening. Nothing had pointed out that the girl would have been able to pull off such a thing.

"Hyuu!" the man fake whistled once he clambered to the top and walked over to Maddy. "The moon looks really pretty from up here."

"What do you want?" Maddy asked tonelessly as she stared up at the night sky. The brunette was currently lying on her back, the night sky, resting both her arms behind her head, one leg folded on top of the other.

"Nothing." Fay replied pleasantly as he came to sit down next to her. "Madiha-chan?"

"Call me Maddy." The girl's irritated voice sounded from next to him.

"Sorry, Maddy-chan then," the magician crossed his legs and turned his head to look at the clear starry sky. "Why don't you try asking the dimension witch?" the man suggested lightly, feeling sorry for the girl. Why, though? He had no idea.

"…" the girl continued staring above her, moodily.

The silence stretched on between them. Fay cast a look around him. Why was he even up here? What had made him climb up that vine? Why was he trying to comfort a girl he barely knew? Maybe it was her eyes. Those brown eyes reminded him so much of another person he had left back in Celes. He knew it was quite stupid but maybe he was doing this in memory of that person. Even though that person looked nothing like this, angry, depressed and hot-headed teenager, Fay could not help but find a little bit of that person in this girl.

"It's either asking her to let you go back or travelling with everyone else till you reach your world." The magician said simply, choosing to help her for once. It's not like he was going to get attached to her. No. he was just helping her come to terms with the truth so that her attitude does not bother her companions.

"If you decide on the latter," Fay turned his head to look at the brunette, who was still staring above her. "The journey would be much more pleasant if you try not to shut others out. May be if you shared your troubles with someone, your mind would be at ease."

The silence that followed his words seemed to stretch on and on forever. Oh well, even if she decided not to listen to him, he had done his part.

"Six days," Maddy started dully. "It's been six days now. I wonder what would be happening back home and the only thing I can imagine are the reactions of my family when they come back to an empty house. How much longer will it take?"

The girl was depressed, really depressed. Fay could tell with ease, but when he had said share her troubles, he had never thought she would start telling _him_ about it. Xahra would have been a better option. She was her friend after all. He was a total stranger.

"I keep seeing Danish in my dreams each night, ever since this stupid game started. I saw him… die… all over again." Her tone was barely above a whisper but her words froze Fay. "He took the bullet for me… and then he died."

_Let him live. _The words reemerged from their corner in his mind.

The small voice that had been screaming _'bad idea'_ at him the moment he had chosen to follow the girl up her now spoke in a smug tone, '_told you so'_

"And even after he died," Maddy's tone was lifeless, monotonous, "he told me that it was his _own_ choice."

Fay remained frozen in his place. It was like someone had drenched him in ice cold water.

_It's just a co-incidence, _he told himself.

"That ring was the last thing I had of him and the witch took it away," she continued. "… When he appeared in my dreams, he told me to talk to her. He said it will be okay but… How can I be sure she won't take something else from me? What if she took my memories of him, just like she took Sleeping Beauty's memories of Syaoran?"

"…" Fay decided to remain silent, to allow the girl to get the burden of her chest.

"I'm sorry." She sighed as she sat up, looking at him with an apologetic smile. It seemed to Fay as if the girl had suddenly transformed into someone else, someone more… mature, perhaps?

"What for?" the magician cocked his head to one side.

"I'm not normally like this," Maddy brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. "It's just that when I'm upset, I tend to act stupidly. Like shout at others and stuff." She gave a strained laugh, "Mum always said I behave in idiotic ways. But I'm pretty sure you must be thinking why is she telling all this to me, right?"

"No, not at all Maddy-chan," Fay smiled at her kindly.

"You don't have to lie about it, Fay," Maddy shook her head. "I can tell this much by looking at someone."

"I'm not lying," Fay grinned at her.

The girl gave him an unconvinced look but the man kept smiling, "Looks like Maddy-chan can't tell what I'm thinking about."

"I can too." Maddy stuck out her tongue before laughing.

"Wow, so you can laugh," the blond said in a serious tone.

"What? Is that so hard to believe?"

"Not anymore." Fay replied.

"Right." The girl drew out the word as she grinned before sobering up. "I should probably apologize to Xahra once she gets back. It's not really her fault that we ended up here, so I shouldn't have shouted at her."

"I agree."

Before Maddy could reply to that however, Fay suddenly pointed towards the stone pillars across the lawns.

"They're back." He announced as he got to his feet. The brown haired girl followed him to the edge of the roof. "Ladies first," Fay grinned as he gave a flourishing bow.

"Trying to be a gentleman?" Maddy raised a brow.

"I don't try Maddy-chan." The blond replied with a wink.

"Ahan." The girl sat down at the very edge, dangling her legs off the side, she grabbed the wine with both hands and proceeded to climbing down. Halfway down, however, Fay heard the girl cry out. Her cry was followed by a loud thump and then an "ouch!"

"Maddy-chan! Are you alright?" Fay hurried down to find the girl holding her ankle.

"I slipped… again." She told him weakly as she tried to get back on her feet. Her leg gave way under her, making her stumble. Before she could fall, however, a firm grip on her arm steadied her.

"Don't put pressure on your left foot." Fay told her as he kept holding her arm.

"Okay, then how in the world am I supposed to walk?" the brown haired girl asked.

"Lean on me," Fay replied simply as he slung her arm around his neck and snaked his own arm around her waist to support her. The two made their way across the grassy lawn, towards the newcomers.

"And here I thought you didn't like him," Xahra said with a sly grin as soon as she saw her best friend walk around the corner of the house, leaning on Fay.

"It's not what it looks like Xahra," Maddy clarified as the two stopped outside the door. While she stood there, leaning on him, Maddy suddenly became aware of how close she was to the magician at that moment. He smelled like something sweet._ Like vanilla,_ a voice in her head piped up. Realizing this, Maddy felt a small blush rise on her cheeks.

Once they had passed through the energy door and reached the main room, Syaoran bade goodbye to them so he could go check on his princess. The blond however kept his grip on her waist and helped her to her room.

"Oh really?" Xahra skeptically raised her brow as she noticed the slight pink that tinted her friend's cheeks.

"I slipped from the vine and fell on my twisted ankle again," Maddy clarified. "it was hurting a lot and I couldn't walk, so Fay offered to help."

"So then why are you blushing?" Xahra grinned as she teased the brown haired girl, the earlier moodiness and depression completely forgotten by both of them.

"I'm not blushing." Maddy said stubbornly even though she knew that she was growing redder by the minute. "Thank you very much for your help, Fay." She said as she quickly removed her arm from around his shoulder and hobbled over to one of the cushions placed on the floor.

"Hey Fay," Xahra turned to grin at the blond, enjoying the fact that her friend was becoming flustered. "Would you be willing to help _me_ if I was the one who slipped from the vine?"

"Umm… I would have to think about that Xahra-chan." Fay returned her grin, understanding what the raven-head was trying to do. Hearing this reply, the teen turned to the bespectacled girl with a triumphant grin as though if that answer settled it all.

"I don't think you would have let him help you if you didn't like him," she said knowingly.

"Shut it Xahra," Maddy growled, tying to hide her awkwardness. "I don't like Fay."

"You don't?" Fay repeated in a mock hurt voice even though he was grinning widely.

"Don't you side with her too." Maddy sighed in annoyance. "You know what I mean."

-0-

Fay and Xahra kept at it for a while but finally had to stop when Maddy pulled the fur over her head and turned her back towards them. The grinning blond then took his leave, returning to his own room after a while. The grin faded from his face the minute he was alone by himself.

"_You should learn to loosen up a bit, Fai." _A voice from his past sounded inside his head.

"I hope you're happy." He sighed as he took of his boots and climbed into the bed. "Wherever you are now." Tapping the crystal ball placed next to it once to dim the glow in the room which seemed to emanate from the walls itself.

-0-

"They have discovered the earth jewelstone?" a male voice asked coldly.

"Y-yes sire," The captain answered from his position on the floor.

"So now three, out of six jewelstones are in the possession of the rebels," the voice was calm, yet one could feel the anger and menace buried underneath. "You have failed me yet again captain."

"…" the covering man on the ground was shivering in fright by now.

"First you let the rebel boy, Cloud, take possession of the lightning jewelstone," the master's tone remained unchanged, cool and calm. Oh, but the menace and buried anger had the poor captain turn chalk-white. "Next, you let the fire jewelstone slip through your fingers in the ancient city of the Mulian Empire."

"M-my lord...p-please…" The captain spoke in a weak voice as the master rose from his throne and took slow, even steps in the kneeling man's direction. The master was a handsome man, with a well built, olive-skinned muscular body. A pair of cold, ruthless, onyx eyes narrowed as the man stopped right next to the unfortunate captain.

"Now, captain," the master ignored his subject's scared stuttering for forgiveness. "Stand up." He ordered.

"S-sire have m-mercy…" the man all but cried as he refused to even glance up at his superior. "P-please, give me another chance!"

"Did you not hear me, captain?" the dark-haired man's tone was chilly.

Reluctantly a frightened man rose from his spot on the ground to look at the one he was answerable to. "Please s-sire. I won't fail you again!"

"You know, captain," the onyx-eyed master said conversationally as adjusted the knot of the cape draped around the captain's shoulders. "I have reason to believe that I heard a similar request made to me, not even three nights ago." He tightened the knot slightly causing the captain to flinch.

"Th-this time will be different, my lord." The ghost white, shivering captain said in, what he believed to be, a strong tone. Although in reality, it was nothing more than a squeak.

"This time?" the master repeated in a calm tone, tightening the knot a little bit more at the end of his words. "After allowing the rebels to acquire a third jewelstone, do you still believe I would make the same mistake?" the knot tightened a little more.

"M-ma…ster…" the captain choked as those onyx eyes narrowed to slits.

"There is no room for failures in my service, captain." The well-muscled man said as he jerked the two ends of the knot apart. The cloth dug into the captain's throat immediately cutting off his windpipe. The minute the man removed his hands from the cape, the captain crumpled to the stone floor.

The doors to the throne room opened and a silver haired female stepped into the room. She must have been around twenty three years of age. Her gait was confident, her posture fearless and her eyes- the black irises rimmed a blood red- nothing but two sparkling pools of darkness.

"You called my Liege," She stopped in front of the master who had reseated himself at the high backed throne. Even as she gave the man a short yet stiff bow, her gaze remained locked with the onyx pair.

"Ah, yes," The man nodded. "It appears, the captain has caused us to face quite a difficult situation."

The woman looked at the gaping corpse of the man who had been alive and begging for mercy just moments ago. A smirk spread onto her soft pink lips. "The fool failed to retrieve the jewelstone, I presume?"

"The most recent makes them three so far," the man nodded.

"What is it that my lord wishes now?" the woman straightened.

"You have two days, captain," the onyx-eyed master spoke, informed her. "Two days to bring those three rebels to me. Fail… and you alone will be responsible for the consequences."

"But of course, my lord," The woman gave another short bow before she turned around and took her leave.

"Let's see how long you can last against her," The man said to no one at all as his right hand reached the silver chain around her neck. He fingered the cube shaped, onyx jewel dangling from its end as his gaze travelled to the lifeless corpse on the ground. The tear drop shaped purple gemstone on his finger ring flared up brightly for the duration in which it was closed to the onyx cube. The cube resonated the glow of the tear-drop as a black, light absorbing sort of void surrounded the object.

"Naomi Blaze, I do not under-estimate my enemies. But, your resistance stands no chance against the empire."

-0-

"_Look at what I made grandpa." A childish voice spoke from somewhere behind her. Madiha whipped around and found herself looking at a seven year old version of herself. The young girl was skipping happily across the room towards an old man with a white beard. The man smiled and picked the girl up in an arm._

"_Well, what do we have here?" the old man pretended to be surprised as he extended a gloved hand to reach for the page the girl holding out._

"_I made a… a circle." She said excitedly, "just like the boy in your story."_

"_Is that so?" the man laughed as he raised the page to lightly observe the oval shaped circle, inlaid with small triangles and other symbols._

"_And what can this circle do?" Her grandfather chuckled lightly as he decided to play along._

"_Umm..." The girl scrunched up her face in a thoughtful expression before grinning widely, "it can do alchemy."_

"_Really?" Her grandfather set her down and straightened with a chuckle, "what sort of alchemy?"_

"_It can… it can…" the younger Madiha tried to come up with a term, "trasmoot his arm into a sword!"_

"_It's transmute." Her grandfather corrected as he chuckled at the little girl. The old man turned to leave but suddenly he turned around and observed the drawing more carefully, as though he had missed something important the previous time. His expression turned to one of shock as he lifted the page up to his eye level._

_Wordlessly, the man walked to the study attached to the living room. Both Madiha's followed, only to find him riffling through the pages of an old leather bound book. He finally stopped on one and looked back and forth between the page in his hand and the one in the book. His expression was one of pure shock._

"_Maddy did you go through this book?" He asked softly crouching down to her level._

"_No. Did I do it wrong?" the little girl looked crestfallen._

"Oye Maddy, wake up!" Xahra yelled next to the brown haired girl's ear.

-0-

_**A/N: not really a great spot to stop but I just realized I've made this chapter over 4700 words long. If I don't stop now this will get reeeally long. So, here it is. I hope my explanations of this world were not too confusing, not that there were many to begin with, but oh well. Lemme know what you think. The review button is right there at the bottom. **_

_**Don't hesitate to point out any mistakes that I might have made so that I can go back and fix them.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed it.**_

_**Ciao!**_


	10. Citadel: He is NOT cute!

_**A/N: ch 9, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 9:**

"Oye Maddy, wake up!" Xahra yelled in the brunette's ear.

"Huh? Wha… Xahra…" she grumbled, groggily rubbing her eyes as she sat up, "Why the hell did you scream in my ear?"

"You were talking in your sleep," Xahra replied simply.

"You woke me up because I was talking in my sleep?" Maddy stopped rubbing her eyes, turning her head to regard the girl with a deadpan face.

"Yeah," Xahra nodded, her hair catching the pale silvery light pouring in through the window.

"Is it just me or is it still dark outside?" The brunette frowned as she looked out the window.

"It's sill dark outside," Xahra grinned in response.

"Xahra, what time is it exactly?" the former asked in a seemingly calm tone.

"Well, my wrist watch says its 5:30 p.m. but clearly that is the time back home," the lavender-eyed girl said as she peered at her glow in the dark wrist watch. "But if I had to take a guess, I'd say somewhere between 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. why?"

"Why?" Madiha hissed in her effort to keep her voice down. She did not want to wake up the other people in the house. "Xahra, you idiot! You woke me up at freakin four am!"

"Well that's because you were talking in your sleep," the other explained calmly, "And your mumbling was keeping me awake."

"…" Maddy decided against murdering the other girl and settled with cursing her friend, mentally of course, as she tried to go back to sleep.

"Hey Xahra," she finally sighed realizing that it would take her a while to go back to the land of slumber.

"Hmm?" the other girl hummed in response.

"Do you think I should talk to the witch?"

"About what?"

"I don't know," Maddy admitted.

"… I'm sorry I made you play the game, Maddy," Xahra apologized quietly after remaining silent for almost five minutes.

"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have yelled at you earlier."

"…"

"I was just being a jerk back then," Maddy sighed. "There was no way you could have known that the stupid game board was some sort of inter dimensional gateway."

"Inter dimensional gateway?" Xahra half-laughed.

"Well, what else could it be?" Maddy said defensively. "The only other option would be virtual reality and if that is the case, then this is one hell of a game."

"Do you want to talk to Yuuko about getting out of this game or virtual reality or whatever?"

"I don't think this is a game, at least not a board game," Maddy replied quietly as she turned over her back to look at her friend. "And getting back home is not gonna be that simple as making a wish to the witch."

"Really? How come?" Xahra turned over as well. She raised her head above the ground and rested it on her hand with her elbow supporting her arm.

"Call it a hunch or something," the girl shrugged. "Besides, Blackie made a similar wish, but he's still stuck here."

"Why do you want to talk to the witch if you have no idea what you want to talk to her about?" Her lavender eyed friend asked.

"It's not that I want to have a chat with her," Madiha confessed. "It's more like I want to ask her a few questions but…"

"But what?" coaxed the teen.

"I'm just wondering if it would be wise to ask her," replied the other with a sigh.

"Well, Danish thought you should contact her," Xahra stated thoughtfully.

"In a dream," Maddy rolled her eyes. "Honestly Xahra, I-"

"I think you should as well," she cut in.

"Really?" the brown haired girl looked at her in disbelief. "Aren't you going to advise me against it?"

"Nah. Your dreams turn out to be pretty accurate," she added after a while. "Remember our chemistry final last year."

"It was just a déjà vu." Maddy sighed in exasperation.

"Not if I remember you correctly," Xahra teased her while grinning, "_you have to believe me Xahra, I saw the whole question paper in my dream._ And if I memory perceives me, then you saw it a month before said exam."

"Yeah, but Xahra it was just a-" Madiha started only to be cut in by her friend.

"Don't give the 'it was a onetime thing'," Xahra warned her. "You know just as well as I do, how frequently you get those déjà vu's, as you like to call them."

"Alright, alright, I get it. I will talk to the witch," Maddy grumbled in annoyance. "But I have a question. How exactly do I do that? We're not in Japan, in case you haven't noticed."

"No worries, I'm sure we'll find some way," the raven haired girl replied cheerfully. "After all, you know what they say. When there is a will, there is a way."

"Ugh. You're beginning to sound like Blondie," Maddy turned her back to her friend. "I'm going to sleep, before I have to see you grinning like him too."

"Oh, so I reminded you of Fay?" Xahra's tone was teasing once again.

"Don't even go there." The girl warned.

"Oh, come on. Admit it. You think he's cute too," Xahra continued anyway. "And you like him."

"Argh! I don't know when it will get through that thick head of yours, Xahra!" Maddy was almost screaming. "I. do. not .think. he. Is. cute. And I _do not_ like him!"

"Really? Because from what I saw earlier-"

"Goodnight Xahra." Maddy snapped as she pulled the fur over her head.

-0-

_She was back in the living room with her grandfather._

"_No, you made it very accurately," her grandfather was telling her seven years old self._

"_Really?" the young Madiha asked with shining eyes._

"_Yes, really," Her grandfather nodded._

"_Cool," She clapped happily._

"_What's wrong grand pa?" the young girl asked as she noticed the frown on the older man's face. To Maddy, it seemed as though if her grandfather was trying to solve some inner conflict._

"_Did you ever see this circle before?" he asked her, gently picking her younger self up and seating her in his lap._

"_I saw it in a dream grandpa," replied the girl._

"_A dream, huh?" her grandfather repeated with an amused look._

"_Madiha, honey," her mother poked her head into the room. "Say goodbye to your grandfather. It's time to go back."_

"_Already?" the young girl asked with a pout._

"_Yes dear," her mother replied as she walked in through the door. "Your daddy just called."_

"_Okay," the young Maddy nodded before she proceeded to kiss her grandfather. "Bye grandpa. Will you teach me something new next time?"_

"_Sure thing, Maddy," Her grandfather ruffled her short hair._

"_Come along now, Maddy," her mother took the seven year olds hand as she jumped off from her grandfather's lap. "Bye dad. I'll see you next week then."_

"_Don't forget to bring her along," the old man got up from his chair and proceeded to walk the two to the door._

"_Mama, can we go see Danish on our way back?" Maddy watched her mother lead her younger self down the drive way. "The graveyard comes in the way."_

"_Alright, we'll go see Danish." Her mother sighed as she seated the young Maddy in the car and closed the door._

"_**I guess I see a lot of things in my dreams."**__ Maddy mumbled as her mother drove the car away._

"_Your grandmother used to see a lot of things in her dreams too, Maddy." Her grandfather spoke, making the brunette jump. She looked at the aged man standing beside her. His right hand was resting on the doorframe as he kept looking at the now empty driveway. The sleeve of his shirt was pulled back slightly, allowing the girl to see the sunlight glint off of something made out of steel on her grandfather's arm._

"_**Huh? Your arm…"**_

"_Its way cooler than skin, don't you think so?" he grinned in her direction as he rolled the sleeve up to let the teen look at a metallic arm._

"_**You can see me too?"**__ this was the first thing that she had wanted to ask the old man before her. But she settled for a more important one, __**"does that circle really do what I said?"**_

"_That is something you have to figure out for yourself," he said softly as he pulled the sleeve back to cover his arm. _

"_**How?"**_

"_Try to remember, do some research etc etc..." he answered with a light shrug of his shoulders. "After all it's already in here." He gently tapped the side of her head with his gloved fingers._

"_**What do you mean?"**__ Maddy asked as everything around her began to dissolve into smoke._

"_I gotta tell this to Al." her grandfather turned away from her as though he had not heard her._

"_**Grandpa, wait!" **__Maddy cried out desperately but everything was gone. Hidden behind a thick curtain of smoke. Once it cleared she found herself standing in a magnificent hallway. A series of really tall pillars stood proudly to her right. The thick, intricately carved columns of pale blue marble easily supported the really high roof._

_Maddy dared to look above her and her jaw almost dropped to the carpeted floor at what she saw. There high above her, beautiful crystal chandeliers were suspended in mid air. Hundreds of small but really bright balls of fire floated inches above the tiny holders which seemed like they were made to hold candles to provide the light in the really long corridor. _

"_**Whoa!"**__ she exclaimed. __**"This is totally like Harry Potter, only way much cooler!"**_

_Looking to her right she saw huge glass windows. The panes of uncut glass were impossibly large; their length would have been more than eight feet at least, their height almost double if not more. Judging from the orange and pink tinted sky, it was probably somewhere around sunset or sunrise in this place. She walked closer to the gigantic glass pane and peered outside._

"_**This place is floating in the sky?"**__ she couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice once she realized that there was no ground below the structure. Although far below, she could see quite a lot of tiny specks of light and small columns of smoke- a village._

"_I would like you to meet your new apprentice tonight, Fay." She heard a male voice drift down the corridor. Maddy whipped around and saw two figures making their way down the hallway, in her direction. Her first thoughts were of hiding. Who was to say that she would remain invisible in this place? What if someone was able to see her? How was she going to explain her presence?_

_Maddy tried to dash towards the marble pillars on the opposite side of the corridor but for some reason, her feet were glued in their place. The girl could only watch with bated breath as the blond magician and his raven haired, pale companion drew closer and closer to the spot where she stood._

"_But Ashura-ou," Fay addressed the man as he shifted his jeweled staff from one hand to the other. It was the very same staff that she had seen him arrive with back at Yuuko's shop, "I don't think I am quite ready to take on an apprentice yet."_

"_Oh, nonsense Fay,' the man called Ashura-ou gave a small laugh. "You are more than ready."_

"_If his majesty thinks so," Fay bowed his head._

_Closer and closer._

"_You shall go to receive them at the village square in an hour's time," Ashura-ou told him as the two came to a halt a short way from her. Neither of them had noticed her yet. That must mean that they could not see her._

"_A caretaker and your apprentice will be arriving from one of the warmer regions," Ashura-ou informed the blond. "So make sure you bring them to the castle soon." _

"_**Phew!" **__Madiha breathed out a sigh of relief instantly regretted her action as Ashura-ou's head turned in her direction. _

"_**Oh damn! He can see me!"**__ The girl cursed mentally as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse for her being there._

"_What's wrong Ashura-ou?" Fay asked in confusion as his eyes followed the direction of the other man's gaze._

"_I thought I saw something…" the man shook his head as he turned back to look at the magician. "But I guess it was just my imagination. Anyhow, back to the matter at hand. Make sure you bring them to the castle as soon as they arrive."_

"_As you wish, your majesty," Fay gave him another bow._

"_Alright then, go on ahead, I'll be with you shortly," the dark-haired man said. The blue eyed magician gave him a confused nod but complied all the same._

"_Ah," Ashura-ou gave a small nod in her direction, once the magician had disappeared around a corner. "So you're the one."_

"_**The one for what?"**__ Maddy cocked her head to one side._

"_The one that _they_ chose," he replied simply._

"_**Who chose?"**_

"_Quite a curious little thing, aren't you?" Ashura-ou's lips curved into an amused smile._

"_**What is that supposed to mean?"**__ Maddy asked but the hallway around her was already melting in a smokey haze, Ashura-ou along with it._

"_Be careful of what you wish for when you talk to the witch." Ashura-ou advised her as his smile grew sadder. The world around her was yet again enveloped in smoke._

_When she was able to see again, Maddy discovered that she was on a slope of some sort. A full moon illuminated the night sky and bathed everything in its pale silvery glow. She could see cherry trees lining the street below her. She was standing on a rooftop. But what felt strange was watching herself staring into space as she sat right next to her._

"_Madiha-chan," she heard Fay's voice behind her. She turned around to see the blond climb out onto the roof through an open window. The brown-haired girl looked to her image sitting on the roof; she had yet to acknowledge the blonde's presence. "It was inappropriate of me to do that earlier."_

_Still, her dream-self remained ignorant of the goofy-magician._

"_It was wrong and I apologize to you for that." his tone was quite formal even if it was slightly slurred. Was he drunk? "I'm sorry."_

"_Did you do it, just because you were drunk?" the dream Maddy turned around to gaze at the blond intensely._

"_Maddy-chan, I was not thinking straight back then," the blond looked away._

_**Wow, he can be serious when he wants to!**__ Maddy thought as she saw his face void of his trademark goofy grin._

"_Oh," she heard herself say, her tone was almost upset and frustrated. The blue-eyed man probably noticed this as well because the next moment he had locked his gaze with hers._

"_I shouldn't have lost control like that," he sighed, shaking his head apologetically. The dream Maddy let out a sigh of frustration as she turned her head the other way to gaze back at the moon."Even if it was nice, you don't have to necessarily like it as well."_

_Dream Maddy did not reply as she continued to stare off in space in a trance like state._

"_I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me." Fay apologized in his drunken state as he turned around and began walking back inside._

"_hey Fay, you d…," she heard dream-self call out to the blond as yet again the grey cloud dissolved the world around her._

_This time the brown haired girl found herself in a dark, windowless hallway. The only source of light was a dull glow that seemed to emanate from the very stones that had been used to build the structure. _

_She could hear the loud clack of a pair of shoes as a silver haired woman made her way across the passageway. The woman gave no acknowledgment to Maddy's presence. This was something that the girl was extremely grateful to. She had no idea that the people who saw her could also touch her or not. And this was the one time she did not want to find out. Reason? The silver haired girl was surrounded by a deadly aura and was armed with some very sharp and dangerous looking weapons._

_However the girl simply brushed past her, paying her no attention whatsoever as she put her palm to a protruding stone in the wall and a shimmering sheet of black translucent material appeared in place of the wall. She stepped inside with confidence._

"_You called my Liege," Maddy heard a sweet yet extremely cold and inhumane voice speak. _

_The brunette quickly phased through the wall next to her and entered the same room as the other girl. Once on the other side, she found herself standing in a large hall. The silver haired woman was currently giving someone a stiff bow, while locking her eyes with the person. Her posture betrayed nothing but confidence, fearlessness and power as she stared ahead of her with onyx eyes rimmed with a deep crimson shade. She appeared to be around 23 or 24 years._

"_Ah, yes," The man nodded. "It appears the captain has caused us to face quite a difficult situation."_

_The woman looked towards something on the ground in front of her as a slow smirk spread on her soft pink lips. Maddy followed the direction of her gaze and barely managed to refrain from letting out a scream. There on the sold stone floor was the gaping corpse of the captain that had followed their group in the forest. _

"_The fool failed to retrieve the jewelstone, I presume?" the demonic yet unbelievably sweet voice brought her out of her shocked state._

"_The most recent makes them three so far," the man, sitting on the high backed throne replied with a nod. Maddy couldn't help but notice the fact that the man easing in that throne was actually quite handsome. But she could also tell with ease that the man, no matter how good looking, was not one of the good guys. His onyx eyes were nothing but two eternal pits of frozen darkness._

"_What is it that my lord wishes now?" the woman asked as she stood up straight._

"_You have two days, captain," the olive-skinned man informed the woman standing before him. "Two days to bring those three rebels to me. Fail… and you alone will be responsible for the consequences."_

"_But of course, my lord," The woman gave another short bow before she turned around to leave. Just before she exited the room though, for the briefest of seconds, Maddy could have sworn that those crimson-rimmed eyes had flickered in her direction._

-0-


	11. Citadel: Jewelstones and Timeflow

_**A/N: ch 10, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 10:**

Somewhere in the countless dimensions, in a distant world, the sun sunk low, hiding behind the fluffy white clouds which hovered just above the distant horizon along the western ridge. The soft pink glow of the fading sunlight enveloped a semi modern looking city consisting of sloping roofed bricked houses and other important looking official buildings. A dark haired man could be seen making his way across the streets, his head bowed low, brow furrowed in a thoughtful frown, hands digging deep into the pockets of a pair of blue pants. He wore a jacket of a similar shade on the upper part of his body.

He seemed to be paying little mind to the direction in which he was heading. It was almost as if his feet were leading him in a certain pre-determined direction towards a destination he didn't even _know_ of. Sooner than he would have expected, he found himself standing before a strange, oriental looking shop. Without even meaning to, he pushed against the small wooden door and stepped inside.

"And I am not your servant!" a raven-haired boy in his late teens emerged from inside the shop as the rice paper door slid apart. The boy still had his head turned towards the shop but his blue eyes widened the minute they fell on the startled man.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was walking in here." the man apologized quickly as he turned around and tried to walk out the way he had come.

"Wait!" he heard the teen call out behind him. Surprisingly enough, he found himself obeying the boy. It was like his feet had frozen to the ground the minute he had turned around.

"Watanuki, bring him inside," He heard a woman's voice speak. "It's about to rain."

Rain? Not a single cloud had been visible in the sky when he had left his office. It had been barely thirty minutes. Then how? But just as the woman had said, a drop of water fell on his face. Then another and another…

"You can speak inside," the teen spoke quietly as he led the man inside the strange looking shop. He led him upto a pair of rice paper doors but stopped just outside them. "You can speak with her in there." The teen instructed him.

The man was dumbfounded yet funnily enough he found himself sliding the screen doors aside.

"Welcome," an exotic, pale skinned, dark haired woman was leaning on a low back recliner. Grey swirls of thick smoke curled around her frame as she smoked from a wooden pipe. The woman was dressed in a deep cut, figure hugging, deep crimson dress. The color reflected in her eyes, making them appear just as red.

She turned around in her seat and slowly rose from the low seat, taking slow yet coy steps in his direction.

"You're ambitious." She said in a soft tone as she observed him through narrowed eyes. "You dream of overthrowing your current leader to take his place. Your plans have set in motion yet you seem troubled. But not for yourself. A subordinate, perhaps?" she added after a pause.

The man's own eyes mimicked her action, narrowing ever so slightly but in suspicion instead of thoughtfulness.

"You're a state alchemist, no?" she asked as an amused smirk spread across her red lips.

"And you would be?" he finally spoke.

"Yuuko Ichihara," she replied. "Although, it is considered better manners to give your own name first." She gave him a sly grin.

"Flame Alchemist," he replied shortly.

-0-

"Wow!" Syaoran gazed at the stone tablet with awe. "This tablet is still in perfect condition and very well preserved. All of the engravings are clearly visible. It was definitely made by a very skilled craftsman but," a frown formed on his face, the previous twinkle gone from his eyes as the brown orbs dulled considerably. "It's not the complete thing. Half of it is missing. As if someone wanted to keep something a secret."

Naomi and Ian gaped at the boy with shocked faces, just like the rest of the group.

"You can tell all that with just taking a mere glance at the thing?" Maddy said incredulously.

"Well, I did have an interest in archeology," the brown-eyed teen scratched his head sheepishly.

"Can you decipher it?" Naomi seemed to have pulled herself out of the shock induced by the boy's declarations.

"I can try," Kurogane could tell that the teen was trying very hard to hide the extent of his excitement.

"If you don't have anything else to do right now," the grey-eyed commander said. "You could come with us and I'll show you the rest of it."

"I'd like to come too." Sakura said softly, right before she swayed and fell to the ground. Or she would have if Syaoran hadn't caught her.

"Is that all the Sleeping Beauty can ever do? Mumble and then fall asleep?" Maddy said as she rolled her eyes.

"She does eat, you know," Xahra said conversationally.

"Oh yeah, _that_ too," The brown haired girl said in a somewhat careless manner.

"Sakura-chan has only regained two of her feathers so far," Fay's expression was somewhat serious. "I'm sure she'll be more energetic once she gets a few more of them."

"For her own sake, I sure hope that will be the case," Maddy mumbled as she bent forward and took the unconscious girl from Syaoran.

"I'll take her back," she explained noticing the boy's surprised look. "You go ahead and enjoy yourself."

"But-" the amber-eyed boy tried to protest.

"It's not a problem, really." Maddy said with a shrug as a small smile formed on her lips. She adjusted the girl in her arms, "Shower your adorations on some thousand year old rock…"

"I'll come along too," Xahra chirped happily, sending a grin in her friend's direction.

"Me too," Fay declared as a thousand watt grin formed on his face.

"Don't forget about Mokona." The white bunny hopped onto Syaoran's head.

"Meh. Do whatever you want." Kurogane grunted as he turned his back to the group. "I'm going back to the house."

The group had left the house to roam about the city and gather information regarding the feather. So far, they had come up with nothing whatsoever.

They had barely entered the marketplace when Sakura had spotted Naomi and Ian.

Having nothing else to do, the group had headed in their direction, hoping to get some information from the two. Although as luck would have it, before they could have asked something, or anything for that matter, Syaoran had spotted the stone tablet tucked under Naomi's arm…

"Ungh!" Maddy grunted as she shifted the unconscious girl in her arms. For all her petite physic and dainty outward appearance, the girl sure was heavy. Out of the corner of her eye, she cast a look at the red-eyed man walking next to her in a careless manner. So much for hoping he might turn out to be a gentleman.

_What did they feed the princess back in her world?_ She thought as she shifted the girl yet again, but refused to ask the ninja for help. If he hadn't had the sense to offer some help, then she be damned before she ever asked for some. She could handle carrying a heavy sack of flour for a while. Wait! What! A sack of flour? Where the heck had that thought come in from?

Shifting the sleeping princess, so that her head was resting on her shoulder, Maddy cast a look around her to see where they were. The narrow lawns and stone building on either side of them told her that they had yet to enter the residential areas of the city.

Maddy inwardly groaned as the realization struck her that she was going to have to carry the girl for another five minutes at least.

"Why did you volunteer for it, if you had not wanted to carry her?" Kurogane snorted at her. Okay, so maybe she had groaned out loud.

"It was quite evident that Syaoran really wanted to see the rest of that stone tablet," she replied as she shifted the unconscious girl yet again. "Seeing how excited he got at the sight of that rock, I figured he would enjoy it."

The ninja gave her a careless shrug as he kept on walking beside her.

"Unfortunately for me though," she continued. "I had no idea that _someone _thinks it's okay to not offer any help when a person seems… to be struggling under a heavy… sack of flour…" she grunted the last parts.

"A sack of flour?" Kurogane turned to look at her with a raised brow.

_Damn! I said that out loud?_ Feeling the heat rising along her cheeks, she mumbled out something incoherent about the sun and the weather being too stuffy.

Kurogane chose not to comment on that as he merely looked on ahead, resuming their walk. The sight of the silver shimmering shield in the distance caused her hopes to lift somewhat.

Just when they were at the end of the street, it happened.

"Oof!" all the air rushed out of her lungs as she tripped on something and lost her balance. The weight of the unconscious princess caused her already poor balancing skills to suffer and her to tumble. The sleeping girl flew out of her arms as she fell on the hard stone road. Grazing her arms and knees in the process.

"Great." She groaned loudly, picking herself up while brushing off dust off of her clothes at the same time. "Maddy, the great klutz, has done it again. I swear it. This dimension travelling stuff is messing with my coordination skills. I mean come on. Twice in less than two day? Gimme a break already."

"Oh wait," she stopped her rant only to look around quickly, realizing that something or rather someone was missing. "Where is… Sakura." She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the girl slung across the red-eyed ninja shoulder.

"Phew! It's a good thing you caught her Blackie," she wiped non-existent sweat from her brow as she looked at the man. "With my luck, I guess the poor girl would have ended up getting bruised if you hadn't caught her."

"My name is Kurogane." Said man growled in a low voice as Maddy carelessly began walking ahead of him.

"I know," Maddy chirped happily before she eyed the bleeding scratches on the palms of her hands. A frown slowly formed on her face as her expression became thoughtful.

"Say, Blackie. Do you have any idea where I could get some metal?" she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her expression still serious. "And maybe some coal?"

-0-

"..and this is where you will the path to the stone." Syaoran straightened as he finished reciting what was engraved on what appeared to be the remaining part of the stone tablet.

"Hyuu. Syaoran-kun is pretty good." Fay fake whistled as he clapped his hands in acknowledgement. Ian was giving him a strange look but the blond did not seem to have noticed.

"Where did you learn to read this language, again?" Naomi narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "No one has been able to decipher it since the last two hundred years."

"My father and I used to travel a lot, back in my own world." Syaoran replied somewhat sheepishly. "I learnt this language in one of the northern countries."

"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" Xahra addressed the grey eyed commander and her raven-haired friend. "You guys asked us about something known as jewelstone when you were interrogating us and this stone tablet thingy keeps on mentioning it over and over again. Just what exactly is this jewelstone?"

"You don't know what jewelstones are?" Ian asked in an incredulous manner as though if it was a crime not to know about them.

"Nope," she shook her head. "I wouldn't be asking if I knew. Hey Fay, do you know anything about them?" she directed her lavender-eyed gaze towards the magician.

"I'm afraid not." He replied with a grin.

"In ancient times," Naomi started to speak before Ian could say anything. "There was a group of elders who created six very powerful stones. Four of them were elemental, one spiritual and one physical. The elemental stones were based on the four elements of air, fire, earth and lightening. The spiritual one was will and the physical one was the strength jewelstone."

"What was so special about them?" Xahra blurted out before she could stop herself.

"They could control the elements they were named after for one thing," Naomi replied. "But the power of the stones proved far too strong for the human race so it was decided to hide them all by scattering the stones. The elders then assigned six of the most elite and respected families the task of guarding the location of their respective stone."

"This duty was fulfilled by the descendants of each family for many generations until a few years ago."

"What happened?" this time it was Syaoran who had asked the question.

"Some sort of energy source fell from the sky," Ian answered. "I've heard rumors that it was in the shape of a feather. The presence of this new source unsettled the delicate balance that the guardians had been struggling to maintain for almost a thousand years."

"One of the guardians defected. He sought the jewelstone he had been entrusted to guard with his life." Naomi said in a disgusted manner.

"He found what he was looking for." She nodded, answering the unasked question as she looked at Xahra.

"One would think the bastard would have been satisfied then," Ian growled angrily.

"He went after the other stones." Five pair of eyes turned in Fay's direction.

"That _is_ why you seem to be anxious about finding their locations, right?" he looked at the two natives. "Although it seems to me, you succeeded in finding at least one of them." he was now looking at Naomi.

"Mephistophele found a second one not long after the first," Naomi replied.

"Your friend, Madiha," Ian said, eyeing the group closely. "How did she do that with the earth back in the forest?"

"Believe me, if I knew," Xahra shrugged in response. "I would have told you."

"We really don't know," Fay replied with his ever present grin. "We've been travelling together for less than a week."

-0-

"Syaoran?" Xahra was observing the chocolate haired boy very closely as the three of them, four if you counted Mokona, made their way back across the now darkening streets of Citadel. Sun had set shortly after they had left the underground temple where the rest of the stone tablet had been. It turned out that the chunk that Naomi had been carrying around in her hand had been a very small part. It had taken Syaoran three hours just to finish reading it. Decoding it had taken another whole hour. Add that to the one hour it had taken them to get to the temple and the one it took them to get back, it had been six hours since they had left Sakura, Maddy and Kurogane.

"Yes Xahra-san?" the boy looked up with curious eyes.

"How long ago, did that incident with Sakura happen?" she asked, hating herself for being so tactless. But what Naomi and Ian had said, something kept bugging her about the information.

"Right before the high priest sent us to Yuuko-san's shop," the boy replied, his expression becoming sad and pained.

"Oh," the girl nodded as she bowed her once again.

"Ah! How is it possible?" After almost fifteen minutes of silently walking alongside the two males, the lavender-eyed girl cried out in frustration. "It doesn't make any sense."

"What, Xahra-chan?" the Celesian wizard tilted his head to one side.

"How could there have been a feather here, a few years back," Xahra asked. "If Sakura lost them less than a week ago?"

"It appears as though, time flows differently in different dimensions," Fay replied.

"Huh?" it was Xahra's turn to be confused.

"Think of it this way," Fay explained. "The few days that we spent in Hanshin Republic could have been equivalent to few years in this one. Or," he continued seeing the expression on the girl's face. "The few days we spend here could equal to a few hours in another world."

"So there is a chance that Maddy and Xahra might get back home before the end of the week," Mokona chirped happily.

"Or it could be," Xahra's shoulders slumped, "that we would be gone for years in our own world."

-0-

_**A/N: I know I picked on poor Sakura, a lot. Sorry I couldn't help it. Oh and if I made mistakes with the part with Yuuko in it, feel free to point out. I haven't exactly read xxxHolic so I have no idea how she behaves around customers in her shop. So please forgive the OOCness. **_

_**Oh wait. I have an excuse. This is an AU, thus OOCness be excused or else… *cue evil laughter* Mwahahaha… *shot***_

_**Hope you liked it. Feel free to leave constructive criticism. If you won't then I'll never know what I did wrong.**_

_**Ciao!**_

_**~Nims**_


	12. Citadel: Concussions and Confusion

_**A/N: ch 11, rewritten. Do read the dream part since I added some new parts to it.**_

**Chapter 11:**

"So there is a chance that Maddy and Xahra might get back home before the end of the week," Mokona chirped happily.

"Or it could be, that we would be gone for years." Fai observed Xahra out of the corner of his eye. Her shoulders were hunched and the emotions flickering across her features showed nothing more than utter hopelessness and dejection.

"Isn't Maddy-chan supposed to be the pessimistic one amongst you two?" He teased in an attempt to lighten the girl's mood.

"I guess I'm taking up her role then." She shrugged quietly in response.

"Now now Xahra-chan, you shouldn't lose hope so quickly," Fai gave it one more try.

"I-" Xahra's sentence was cut-short by an alarmed scream that had come from the direction of their residence.

"That sounded like-" Mokona started.

"Madiha…" Xahra breathed apprehensively before breaking out in a run for their temporary house. Syaoran cast a worried glance in Fai's direction. The magician merely followed suit with a shrug.

By the time they had reached the other side of the silver shimmering shield and crossed the massive lawns separating the stone structure from its outer perimeter, an alert Kurogane had also emerged from the building.

"Where's Madiha?" Xahra inquired in a worried manner.

"She was out in the backyard," the ninja answered gruffly as he fell behind the group.

"Maddy? Where are you?" Xahra called out as she entered the unlit grounds and tried to scan the darkness for signs of her best friend. The moon had hidden itself behind a lone cloud so little light was available for helping with the visibility. "Are you alright?"

"Oohhh…." After almost five minutes of searching a soft groan caught Fai's attention. The group had split up in hopes of covering more area, though it had taken some persuasion on Kurogane's part to join the search.

"I think I found her," The mage announced as he made his way over to the unmoving form of the bespectacled girl. She was lying near a tangled heap of vines that she had used to climb to the roof the other day.

"Maddy!" Xahra ran over to her best friend falling on her knees by her side. She gently shook her shoulder, "Hey, Maddy. Madiha, get up."

"What happened to her?" Mokona's scared voice asked the question from its perch atop Syaoran's head.

"My guess would be she fell." Kurogane answered tonelessly, stating the obvious.

"We should get her inside," Syaoran suggested to the others as Xahra kept trying in vain to wake up the unresponsive girl.

-0-

_She opened her eyes blearily._

_White._

_Everything she saw was white._

_Was she dead?_

_No. This didn't feel like death._

_She _had_ fallen from the roof of the house but was the roof high enough to get her killed?_

_Probably not._

_Something soft and cold landed on her cheek. She reached up with a hand and touched the substance which had somehow vanished, but there was a foreign wetness on her face._

_She looked up._

_Snow._

_It was snowing._

_Pleasantly surprised, she reached out with both hands, trying to gather the falling flakes in them, but they merely melted in her warm hands._

"_**This feels more like a dream."**__ She let out a soft sigh as she gave up trying to catch the fallen snow, deciding to find some place to take shelter instead. She looked around her, trying to determine which direction would be best for her to head to and couldn't keep a shudder, which had nothing to do with the cold, from running down her spine._

_She was in what seemed to be some sort of valley. A layer of white covering everything, including thousands and thousands of frozen, unmoving corpses. Gaunt, deathly pale faces of all ages with their wide unseeing eyes, mouths pulled open in silent cries. The dead bodies belonged to people of every age group and social status, young and old, rich and poor, male and female. There were mothers clutching onto their newborns for dear life, even if that life had been stolen from them along with their own. There were many that seemed to be questioning her with their horrified gazes as for what crime had they been killed so ruthlessly._

_Even if she had never seen one beforehand, this definitely looked like a massacre to her._

"_**So much death… What is this place?"**_

_Trying with all her might not to get sick, she carefully made her way through the field, hoping to find something that might be of help. However, no matter in which direction she walked or for how long she walked, the bodies never dwindled in numbers._

_After what seemed like hours, the scenery changed from that of an endless field of snow littered with bodies to that of a high stone wall. The texture of the brick sized stones used in its construction seemed rough and since there were no spaces in it to hold on to, climbing it to reach the top was out of the question._

"_**I don't think I'll ever be able to climb **_**that**_** high up."**__ Maddy said with an exasperated chuckle once she noticed that the wall seemed to go on and on. She wouldn't be surprised if she saw clouds floating midway._

"_..i..." she heard a weak cry in the distance. Automatically, her head whipped in the direction she had heard that sound come from. _

"_**Someone's still alive here!"**__ Before she knew it, she was running along the wall, towards the place where she thought the sound had originated from. Her breathe fogged before her face, the cold wind biting her skin yet for some unknown reason, she did not slow down. _

_She could see a strange sort of mountain up ahead._

"_..ai…" there it was again. That faint whisper in the whistling wind._

"_**Hey?"**__ her voice reverberated and echoed all around her. __**"Anybody here?"**__ she called out with growing apprehension as something dawned on her._

_That weird looking mountain… that mound…_

_It was made up of corpses!_

_And there on top of it, was a wrinkly, paper skinned creature with dirty matted hair longer than it entire body. It was far too thin and bony to be a human dressed up in rags. Had it not been for the fact that the thing was constantly trying to climb up the wall, she would have mistook it for a mummified corpse._

_Its hands were thin and skeletal like the rest of its body and but the finger were bloody and raw, blood staining the wall in the form of a long trail. She watched in morbid fascination as the thing would climb up using its hands and feet to crawl upwards, only to slip and fall back down on the mound of shockingly well preserved bodies._

"_Fai…" she realized with a jolt that the hoarse whisper she had heard earlier had been that skeletal creature's voice. On thin shaking limbs, the thing pushed itself back to its feet and once again began the endless climb. Only for it to reach a height of a few feet, slip and fall back down._

"…_i…" another faint whisper, carrying a hoarse yet childlike quality to it, reached her winds._

"_**There's more…"**_

_The small, pitiful thing began it to climb yet again. It reached a little higher than last time, and a little more and a little more. But then, its foot lost its hold and the creature fell. As it sailed through the air, rushing downwards to meet the mound, the small creature turned its head._

_A startled gasp escaped her lips as a pair of dead haunted eyes locked their gaze with her own._

_And then everything around her was submerged in darkness._

"_**W-who was that?"**__ Maddy questioned herself silently as she cautiously took a step forward. _

"_Hey, Fai, can I ask you something?" Madiha heard a girl's voice ring out in the darkness before her surroundings began taking shape. She was standing at the top of a hill that was completely covered in snow. To her right,there was an ancient tree with dark ebony bark and pale purple, almost crystalline flowers. The trunk was almost four feet across and oddly bent and gnarled in appearance. A soft wind blew, making the tree rustle and the petals rain to the ground, turning the tree's surroundings from white to lavender._

"_You know you can ask me anything," she heard the magician's voice respond from the other side of the tree. Cautiously, very much aware of the snow crunching beneath her feet, she approached the other side. Her curiosity had been piqued at hearing him use such a tender tone._

"_Yeah, right. There a lot of things I know you'd never tell me," The girl snorted before continuing. "But everyone is entitled to their share of secrets, I suppose."_

"_So?" Maddy spotted Fai sitting on a low-hanging branch of the tree, his hands resting on either side of his body to help him balance. He had his fluffy white coat resting on his shoulders, but he wasn't wearing it. Next to him sat a rather pretty girl, with midnight black hair streaked with crimson, tied back in a rather messy ponytail. Her skin was just as pale as the magician's, but it was her honey colored eyes that drew Maddy's attention. They were somewhat downcast in contemplation, but they appeared big and rather expressive, kind of like Sakura's. "Aren't you going to tell me?" Fai seemed to be asking her._

"_We've known each other for five years now, right?" the nameless girl who was sitting beside Fai asked as she turned her head to look at him._

"_Yeah," the blond responded, appearing confused. "I don't see where you're going with this, though."_

"_Five years of apprenticeship." She sighed softly, closing her eyes to feel the wind blow across her face. She shuddered slightly at the cold, but a small smile graced her lips. Fai stared at her blissful face as the crystalline petals caressed her skin, seemingly forgetting about everything else._

"_What are you staring at?" she asked, shuddering again as the wind began to blow a little stronger than before. She, too, wore a rather fluffy coat, her chosen color being a dark royal blue with silver trimmings, but apparently it wasn't enough for her to stay warm. She eyed the coat Fai that had hung across his shoulders for a while before a sly grin formed on her lips. Faster than Maddy could follow, the girl snatched the coat away from the magician, making him lose his balance in the process as he yelped, falling down in the snow with an 'oomph'. The girl laughed heartily as she pushed her arms through the sleeves of the fluffy white coat. "What? I was cold." She giggled as the magician shot her a dirty look. "You probably forgot your gentlemanly manners back at the castle, or you would have offered me the coat yourself when you noticed." _

"_I could have just summoned your other coat for you. Why did you have to steal mine?" he complained, climbing to his feet as he slowly approached the girl._

"_I like your coat. It's so soft and fluffy and warm…" she answered, burying her face into the fur lining the coat. She inhaled deeply."And it smells just like you," she added with a grin, which faltered at the look the magician seemed to be shooting in her direction. "No. Fai. No." she warned, "You're going to regret it. I swear, you're- Aaah!" she shrieked as the magician pulled her leg, making her fall off her perch._

"_Jerk!" She grumbled angrily, glaring at him as she clambered to her feet, brushing the purple petals from her hair._

"_You know you love me, Masooma," The mage laughed, despite being the target of the witch's angry glare. "And I love _you, especially_when you're angry. You look so adorable." He grinned, taking her into his arms as he settled down on the cold ground and leant his back against the tree. "So, are you going to tell me what's gotten you in a mood to brood?"_

"_I do _not_ brood. I contemplate," She quipped, grinning at the blond as he nuzzled her cheek."You're still a jerk for pulling me, by the way."_

"_But I'm your jerk." It was clear from the way he acted around this girl that the two were in were love. Quite deeply, too, if the way they gazed at each other was any indication. Madiha watched the two in silence as the witch, Masooma, plucked a falling petal out of the air. The smile slid off her face as her expression turned serious._

"_Would you look for another," she asked softly, her fingers playing with the petal, "if I ever die?"_

"_What?" Fai stopped playing with her hair as he turned his blue-eyed gaze to the witch in his lap._

"_You wouldn't keep holding on to a memory forever if you lost me, would you?"_

"_Why are you saying that?" he asked sharply. "Is something wrong? Did someone say anything to you?"_

"_Relax, Fai," she laughed softly, "You're getting worked up over nothing. It's just that… the beast is killing so many people. One can't help but wonder if…"_

"_Ashura-ou himself is helping out with the search. We'll definitely catch it," he told her sternly. "So stop thinking about death. I won't let anything happen to you."_

"_Whoever said I needed your protection, hmm?" She quirked a brow playfully as she grinned widely. "I'm perfectly capable of kicking some ass on my own, or have you forgotten who won our last sparring match?"_

"_You only won because you cheated," he sniffed haughtily._

"_Aww… now, don't be a sour loser, Fai," she teased him, the grin adorning her lips a perfect copy of the one that Fai used when he teased Kurogane._

"_I'm not being a sour loser," he scowled. "You kissed me."_

"_You don't like my kisses?"_

"_No."_

"_You don't?" she pouted._

"_No!" he yelped, "not that. But you distracted me with your kiss. That's the only reason why you won."_

"_So you mean to tell me that I could not have beaten you otherwise?" she repeated with a frown as she began unwrapping his arms from around her, making to get off of him._

"_Damn it, woman," he growled, catching her wrist to stop her from walking away as he pulled her back on the ground. "Stop blowing things out of proportion here." Then he kissed her. "You know that's not what I meant."_

"_I know," she grinned goofily, "but you said I look cute when I'm angry."_

_Maddy felt her surroundings begin to darken once again as the dream began to transition._

"_Promise me you won't stay alone for the rest of your life if something happens to me." Maddy heard Masooma's whispered words as that world faded completely from her view._

_Thunder rolled over head, a flash of lightning illuminating the dark empty street she was standing in._

_A drop of rain landed with a soft plat on the crumbling stone next to her. _

"_**Now, where the hell am I?"**__ she half groaned half sighed, wondering what ever happened to the witch that Fai had been with._

_It took a while but soon her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she was able to make out her surroundings clearly. All around her, the broken and crumbling buildings and rusty, bent lampposts told the sad tale of destruction and war._

_Another loud clap as lightning split the sky once again. In its comparatively brighter light she was also able to make out numerous deep gouges and slashed in everything. Like some sort of beast with an insane amount of strength had ripped through those structures with its claws._

_There was a loud crash as something flew past her and collided with the wall to her right. The crumbling structure came crashing down upon whoever had been unlucky enough to hit it._

_A dark shape rushed by her, towards the knocked down wall. Lightning flashed overhead and in the bright light, Maddy was able to make out the shape of a man with messy black hair and strange, glowing golden eyes. An angry snarl was currently marring his otherwise attractive face. For some reason the guy's eyes reminded her of a cat. They even seemed to have the characteristic slits._

_The rubble shifted as the person underneath it struggled to get out. However, before the guy could even fully get to his feet, the dark haired guy's hand had shot out, grabbing the former's neck, using it to hoist them of the ground. _

"_Where is he?" the dark haired guy hissed dangerously._

"_I-I don't… know.." the other man panted as his hands uselessly tried to free his neck, his legs flailing in the air. He seemed to be older than his captor but obviously not stronger, even if he was more heavily built._

"_Don't lie to me." the young golden eyed man warned softly as the fingers of his free hand began extending. Maddy stood rooted to the spot as his hand transformed into a sharp and deadly claw._

"_I-I swear… I d-don't know where… he is…"_

"_Then who were you delivering the message to?" his eyes narrowed menacingly. "Now. Tell me." he asked quietly as his clawed hand positioned in front of his captives heart. "Where. is. my. brother?"_

"_H-he went after the mage…" the captive whimpered as a clawed finger dug into his skin, deep enough to draw blood._

"…"

"_Aaargh!" right before her eyes, the man crumbled to dust as younger man plunged his hand into his prisoner's chest._

"_I thought I told you not to follow." the man sighed as he turned around to face her. His eyes however were looking at something beyond her. _

_**This has got to be one my craziest dreams yet.**__ Maddy thought to herself, not voicing her thoughts out loud for fear that she might somehow attract the attention of the person standing in front of her. She had noticed that whenever she had spoken in her dreams, she would become visible to the people she was dreaming about. However, as long as she kept her mouth shut, no one would even notice her presence. __**I could have sworn that guy had golden eyes.**_

_Somehow, the color of his eyes had changed to a grayish blue; the cat-like slit vanished along with the golden hue._

"_I guess I didn't hear you." A startlingly familiar voice coming from behind her made her whip around._

_**Syaoran?**__ The brunette teen that stood before her was indeed Syaoran, or rather an older version of Syaoran. While the Syaoran she had been traveling with for the past week was no more than fourteen years old at most, this amber eyed guy with a sword clutched in one hand was at least eighteen years of age, if not more._

_His next words were drowned by the deafening roar of thunder. In the flash of lightening that followed, Maddy was able to see the calm and collected expression on his face as he effortlessly swung his sword in thin air. Before ducking down, just in time to avoid a clawed swipe aimed for his head._

_While still in a crouch, he twisted his body, bringing the sword along with him, cutting through the woman with ease. An instant later, with an inhuman screech, the fair haired woman turned to dust._

"_Should have known there would be more of them around." This Syaoran commented in a tone like one might with the weather. "Anyhow, did you find out anything about him, Kamui?"_

"_He's going after the idiot." The guy, Syaoran had addressed as Kamui, replied._

"_Yuui?" Syaoran quirked a brow. "but he's…" Maddy could not hear his next words as she realized that she was beginning to wake up._

-0-

"She's waking up." Mokona's high pitched voice reached her ears as she opened her eyes with a groan.

"Maddy?" Xahra's worried face came swimming into her line of vision.

"Xah-ra?" she managed to croak. "Ow… My head hurts." She groaned as a splitting headache made its presence known.

"You shouldn't expect anything less," Xahra admonished her, trying to sound and look angry but failing rather miserably. "You fell from the roof."

"Yeah… I think I remember losing my footing." She answered with a sheepish chuckle, pushing herself into a sitting position. A wave of nausea rolled over her but soon the feeling had passed.

"You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?" Xahra threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Are you trying to get yourself killed before we can get back home?"

"Err… no?"

"Don't you dare try doing something like that again!" Xahra punched her in the arm before pulling her into a tight hug. Before she knew it, the girl was sobbing into Madiha's shoulder. "I was so damn scared. You were out cold for three hours and we couldn't even go outside the shield to get help for you. And the guards were not going to come check on us till morning."

"Hey… Calm down Xahra. It's alright." She patted her best friend's back soothingly. "I'm not gonna get myself killed. Even with my accident proneness, I swear, I'll at least make it back home before dying."

"You better." Xahra sniffled, quickly wiping her eyes to clean them of stray tears. "Otherwise I'm gonna have to go through the trouble of bringing you back to life so that I can kill you myself. And frankly speaking, I'd rather spend my time doing much more productive things."

"Yeah, like checking out hot guys?" Maddy teased.

"Maybe." Her friend replied slyly before they both burst out into laughter.

"Ah, Maddy-chan, you're finally awake." Fai knocked on the translucent sheet of black shimmering material that served as the door before pulling the small lever in the wall beside it that allowed the sheet to let people pass through. "You had Xahra-chan worried to death, you know."

"Sorry," she apologized to her childhood friend, "I just sorta slipped and well, you know how I can be…"

"Yeah, I know," Xahra nodded before glancing slyly in Fai's direction. "But I was wondering, Maybe you slipped on purpose."

"What?" Maddy yelped indignantly. "No! I'm accident prone! Just because things like that happen to me doesn't mean I do them on purpose."

"I don't know," the lavender eyed girl drawled. "Maybe you were hoping that maybe Fai would carry you back inside if you sprained your ankle again?" a Cheshire-cat grin was fixed on her face as she got up and made her way over to Fai. Probably to get out of reach of the injured girl.

"Huh?" Maddy blinked dumbly before her words registered. "No! For the last time Xahra, I don't _like_ Fai!"

"Ouch. You wound me Maddy-chan." Fai said in mock hurt.

"There there Fai." Xahra patted him on the back in a consoling manner, grinning all the while. "I'm sure she'll turn around one day."

"Grrr… You are an idiot Xahra."

"I'm your friend, so duh!" said girl stuck out her tongue.

"How old are you again?" Maddy sighed, rubbing her temples. "No, wait. Don't answer that." She interrupted her friend before the other girl could say something stupid.

Mokona watched the exchange quietly, feeling surprised at how quickly the two girls changed their moods.

-0-

Almost a week after Maddy's little accident; the group of six was standing in the front lawn of their temporary accommodations inside Citadel. The dimension travelers had been provided with local clothes, courtesy of Naomi, to help them blend in with the general public a bit more.

The girls' clothing consisted of loose fitting pants and simple high necked shirts with long embroidered sleeves. Over their pants, was an asymmetrical skirt of sorts, it reached somewhere around the middle of their thighs at the front while it fell all the way down to their ankles at the back. Simple yet elegant, floral patterned embroidery lined the hem of the skirt.

The guys wore pretty much similar looking clothing with a few minor changes. There was no skirt for one thing, and the shirts were sleeveless with little or no embroidery at all.

The group had searched for clues that might be able to lead them to Sakura's feather however, so far they had been unsuccessful.

The only clue they had been able to get about its location had been when Mokona had detected traces of the feather's energy coming from someplace west to Citadel. But the only place in that direction had been the ruins.

Naomi had agreed to help them search for the feather if their group helped them find the remaining jewelstones. The reason for her making this deal with the group of travelers had been that only Syaoran could read the ancient tablets.

Although, she had admitted that with some more time, she might have been able to decipher the language along with Ian but time was something they were running short on. Thus, the deal was struck.

And now, along with the small party of dimension traveler, Naomi, Ian and two other guards were also present in the grounds.

"Alright so Syaoran, Kurogane and Xahra will come with us," Naomi said decisively. "And Fai, Sakura and Madiha will stay here, in Citadel."

Their little search party, apart from Xahra, Syaoran and Kurogane consisted of, the big muscled bald guy from their escort and a new red haired woman.

"What about Mokona?" the white rabbit hopped over to grey-eyed girl, the red gem on its forehead sparkling in the light of the early morning sun.

"I guess you should come along too," Naomi answered thoughtfully. "You guys use it to detect this _feather_, right?" she looked questioningly at the young archeologist of the group.

"Yes," the addressed boy nodded.

"Okay, so if we are lucky," the eighteen year old commander looked at all those present. "We'll be able to retrieve the gemstone and return in less than a week's time. As for you Syaoran," her gaze settled on the younger teen. "You will have an opportunity to search for the feather signal at the temple since the gemstone resonate the feather's energy. I'm sure Mokona will be able to detect a general direction for it, at the very least."

"Naomi," the silver haired guard from their escort, arrived and stopped next to the commander. "We have received word from the northern gate that Cloud is back. And he…" she hesitated before adding in a lower tone. "is injured badly."

"Get him to the infirmary." She nodded in a professional manner although; Fai and Kurogane could easily tell that the girl's body had tensed up on hearing the news. "Ian and I will be right over." The woman nodded once before turning around and marching out of their sight.

"A guard will come to pick the three of you up around noon," Ian told them as his group of friend turned around to leave. "You have till then to pack whatever it is that you will need."

"They don't really trust us much, do they?" Kurogane mused silently, once the Citadelians had vanished through the shimmering silver shield surrounding their house.

"Nope," Fai shook his head. "Which is why they have decided to split the group in two. Makes sense."

"Keep some of us here so that the rest don't try to run off," Xahra nodded thoughtfully. "I would have done something similar if I were in their place."

"Hey, has anyone seen Maddy?" the girl suddenly looked round, noticing that her bespectacled friend had gone missing.

"I think she went back to the backyard." Syaoran answered. "She's been there since early morning."

"Mokona saw her looking around for pieces of metal and some coal earlier today." The white rabbit put in its two cents.

"Odd," The lavender-eyed girl stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I'm gonna see what she's up to before we start packing for the trip."

_**A/N: So I added a bit more to the dream part since what she sees here is kinda important for future events. Anyhow, I hope you guys liked the little scene between Masooma and Fai. Those of you who have read my other fics, you guys already know that Masooma is kinda like my favorite OC to pair up with Fai. More about her will be revealed as the story progresses.**_


	13. Citadel: Accents and Adventures

_**A/N: ch 12, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 12:**

Xahra carefully made her way to the backyard and saw Maddy kneeling on the ground with her back towards her. Her hand was moving as though she was writing something down.

"Hey Maddy," She called out as she walked over to the girl, crouching down to her right. "What in the world are you doing?" she asked in confusion, noticing the pieces of metal spread out before the girl. Each piece of metal had a circular design drawn on it, with interlocked triangles and a few strange symbols inside.

"Um. It's nothing. I was just trying to check something out." She shrugged dropping the piece of coal to look at her friend. "So what did Naomi say?"

"She wants me, Kurogane and Syaoran to go with her search party to look for the jewelstone."

"When do you guys leave?" she cocked her head to the right.

"At noon." Xahra answered

"Today?" Maddy's brow rose.

"Yup."

"So you're going then?" she asked as the two got to their feet and headed inside. Maddy did not bother to pick up the pieces of metal or coal. "I'll pick them up later." She said when Xahra gave her a questioning glance.

"I really don't have a choice in the matter." The raven-head sighed. "She runs this place. It would be better to do as she says then to get in trouble."

Maddy hummed thoughtfully. "Will you be okay?"

"I sure hope so." She responded, looking up at the sunny, cloudless sky.

-0-

Kurogane mounted his horse at the same time as Xahra climbed on hers. She adjusted her clothes before taking the reins in her hands. Syaoran did the same to his right, minus the clothes adjusting part.

Naomi and Ian along with the bald guard and the red-headed woman were waiting for the three near the city gates.

"Ready?" the grey-eyed commander looked at the three before flicking the reins of her horse, turning it around to face the exit. "Let's go."

Their group traveled in relative silence for the major part of the day, following a path next to a river that started somewhere in the mountains. Syaoran had told them that the place that housed the jewelstone was somewhere in the mountain range. Close to the path followed by the river.

They set up camp in near a small waterfall, somewhere around sunset, Ian announcing that they would leave the trail for a while in the morning in order to get to the higher ground. They had all had dinner around the fire to stay warm. However as soon as everyone had had their fill, Naomi got up from her place and walked over to one of the fallen logs nearby, sitting down with her face towards the darkness. The young commander was taking up first watch.

Ian spoke a couple of words with her before retiring to his tent that he was sharing with the bald guard whose name happened to Bald. The read-headed woman similarly went by the name of Red.

_Did the author have something against them? _The thought had formed in his mind when he had first heard their introductions but shrugged off the strange reflection with a shake of his head.

He spotted Syaoran walk over to Ian's tent with Mokona perched on his shoulder, while Xahra made her way over to where the young commander was. Bald and Red had already retired for the night.

"Naomi, can I ask you something?" he heard the girl ask.

"Yes?" Naomi responded.

"Why did you choose me to accompany you guys here?" Xahra asked as she sat down on the log next to her. "I mean I know you needed Syaoran to do the translations and Kurogane can take care of himself and all but why me? Why not choose Fai? Or Maddy?"

"Maddy?" Naomi repeated incredulously as she looked at the lavender eyed girl.

"Alright, well maybe not Maddy," Xahra chuckled softly, remembering just who exactly she was talking about. "But why not Fai?"

"Well, I can tell you guy don't trust us very much." the commander shrugged. "I didn't think your friends would have agreed to come if I hadn't left behind someone capable from your group."

Kurogane was not exactly amazed by the fact that the girl had picked up on that; after all she wouldn't be in a position of high power if she was not capable enough. He could tell that she was good at observing things. And she definitely cared about her comrades and friends, if her reaction about that Cloud guy was any indication at all.

She reminded him of Tomoyo-hime for some reason, even though the two did not have much in common. His princess was a Miko, a priestess, one who protected her people through her prayers and kekkai. This girl was a Gaurdian, a warrior, one who protected her people by fighting physically. But there were small similarities, like the fact that they were the rulers of their lands, and they held the devotion, love and respect of those under them.

The only ones surprised to find out about Naomi's position of power were those two strange girls- Madiha and Xahra- claiming that how could someone so young be allowed to be a leader. Kurogane had merely scoffed at that. Commander at eighteen was no big deal. Tomoyo-hime had been working with Amtaresu even before she was barely thirteen. He himself had commanded battalions to fight off the demons that plagued Nihonean borders at sixteen. Why was this any different? Did they have laws in their world that dictated their king had to be older than forty or something?

Kurogane mentally snorted at that. Like age would make a difference if someone knew how to do the job.

Shrugging off his train of thought, Kurogane focused his attention back on the conversation.

"You didn't answer why you picked me to come, though." Xahra asked.

"You seemed like someone who could handle her own when in a tough position." Naomi replied.

"How so?" Xahra sounded interested.

"The way you move about." Naomi answered simply.

Now that the commander mentioned it, Kurogane's own attention was brought to the same fact.

He observed the perplexed lavender-eyed girl who was looking at Naomi as though expecting a further explanation but just shrugged and walked to her tent after a goodnight when she received no answer. His crimson-eyes followed her till she was safely behind the flaps of her small one man tent that Syaoran had volunteered to set up once he had heard that the girl had no idea how, since she'd never had the need to camp.

Kurogane's eyes narrowed as his thoughts focused on the lavender-eyed girl. There was something off about her. The way she moved, the way she handled herself, everything about her screamed power, even if the girl herself seemed to be unaware of it. Then there was the faint yet strange aura lurking about her, which for some reason felt familiar, like he had encountered it before. It felt like magic, natural magic or spiritual magic but it was different at the same time. He couldn't quite place his finger on where he had encountered it before, only that he had. One thing was clear though, it was in a dormant stage if Xahra was not aware of its presence.

She was not aware of it. That much was certain.

-0-

Soon after Mokona and the others had left, Fai, Maddy and Sakura found themselves in a strange predicament. With their magical translator gone, there was no way for the three of them to communicate. The Citadelians spoke a strange language that none of them could comprehend but that was not the only problem. The three couldn't communicate amongst themselves either.

Lucky for Sakura though, she normally didn't do much except sleep and recuperate. Xahra had mentioned Fai saying something along the lines of her needing more feathers in order to return to her former self since she was still weak.

Fai had found it interesting to note that he and Syaoran were not the only ones who knew more than one language. He knew about Syaoran because the boy had told Sorata that he had learned many languages on his travels with his father. It had been a requirement as the High Mage of the Celesian Court for him to sometimes meet with ambassadors from neighboring countries and in order to communicate more effectively, he had to learn several foreign languages. However Maddy had never made such a claim so when she switched from speaking complete gibberish to something completely different, he was a little surprised.

"Great," Maddy grumbled in English as she crossed her arms across her chest. "So now, once again, I'm going to have to flail around like a monkey on sugar to make myself understood."

"Monkey on sugar high?" Fai chuckled.

"You can speak English," she deadpanned. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"Because you didn't ask me to." He countered simply.

"Interesting accent," Maddy commented, as she slumped on the furs that served as the bed in the room she and Xahra had shared.

"Thank you Miss Maddy."

"Miss?" Maddy raised a finely shaped brow as she took off her spectacles and put them away.

"That _is_ how I have been addressing you so far." He grinned.

"Well, don't expect me to start calling you _Mr_. Fai," She shrugged carelessly, leaning back so she was lying on her back with her arms resting behind her neck. "Way too formal for me."

"You don't use honorifics in your world." Fai asked as he sat down, leaning against the wall. The sun had set a while ago and Sakura was already safely tucked away in her fur-bed.

"No we don't." She answered, stifling a yawn. "At least not in the way you guys do. We don't attach them at the end of names."

"Then how do you use them?"

"Well, when we're talking to an elder or someone of high status or a person who deserves respect we use the word 'Ap' while talking to them but for friends or people of your own age we use 'Tum' instead."

"So if I were talking to you in your language, I would call you Maddy-tum?"

"No," she laughed with a shake of her head, "the words are used separately in the sentence, not necessarily after the name." she yawned once again. "Although, I think Xahra would be a much better choice if you want a better explanation."

"You're sleepy." Fai commented with a grin, watching stifle yet another yawn as her eyes watered.

"Ah, you noticed." She replied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

The mage merely kept on grinning.

"Anyhow, I'll probably end up seeing you in the morning again," Maddy said pulling one of the furs over her head, "So goodnight Fai."

"Goodnight Miss Maddy." Fai took that as his cue to leave. After all, it would be better if he got some sleep too. He walked back to his own allotted room and settled under the fur covers.

_Maybe tonight, I won't have any dreams and sleep peacefully for once_ he thought hopefully as he shut his eyes.

Not a moment later, a pair of amber eyes flashed in his vision for a fraction of a second, accompanied by a soft echoing laughter in his mind. He heaved a sigh as the apparition vanished, taking the haunting laughter with it.

_Maybe not._ He sighed, pulling the fur closer to his body.

-0-

_She was standing in a grassy lawn outside someone's house. Before her was a pair of young boys, attacking a pale skinned woman who had her nose buried in a book. Yet she was dodging and countering their attacks with ease._

_The boys were no older than ten, with messy blond hair and piercing gold eyes. The woman on the other hand had dark hair which were finely braided and pulled back in a ponytail. She wore lose fitting pants and a long white sleeveless shirt. _

"_The foundation of alchemy is a circle," the woman read from the book as she blocked one blond boy's kick, "the circle shows the nature of the power" she dodged around the other's punch, "and you may activate that power by writing alchemical formulas there."_

**Alchemy?**_ Maddy thought, her mind reeling back to the dream conversation she had had with her grandfather in the previous world. _**Mini-me used this term too. **_Maddy turned her attention back on the woman and the two kids. She watched in silence as the woman deflected the hand coming for her face before knocking the other one aiming for her stomach, her eyes never left the book in her hand however. "By understanding the flow of power and the laws of nature, you can apply it to everything."_

**Is she tutoring them in something? **_Maddy thought, finding the woman's behavior strange._

"_In other words," the woman threw the book in the air, grabbing hold of the boy's leg who had tried to use a flying kick on her. "Understand your opponents flow of power," she flipped the boy in the air, "and use it against them." she finished as she slammed him on the ground._

"_That is also the nature of power," she grinned all of a sudden when the boy rubbed his bruised head. Her gaze travelled to the boy who was still standing, "It's better if you experience it first-hand."_

_A couple of seconds later he was on the ground with his brother. _

**Whoa! I wouldn't wanna get in her bad books.**_ Maddy whistled softly before clapping her hands on her mouth. Now she was going to be visible to them. How in the world was she supposed to explain her presence?_

_However the woman paid her no mind as she pulled the boys to their feet and led them closer to the house. She sat down on a wooden crate and pulled up a first aid box. "One who understands and accepts the flow of power, and constructs using that knowledge," the woman got up from her place and walked over to the boys, crouching next to them, she tended to the golden-eyed boy's injuries, "is called an alchemist." _

_She stood up, resting her hand on top of the boy's head, her eyes taking on a sad gleam, "the world is basically functioning according to this flow. Life and Deaths of humans are a part of this flow as well." she narrowed her eyes, her mouth nothing more than a grim line, "that's why you should never, ever try to revive a human being."_

**What the hell is she talking about?**

_Maddy watched in amazement as the woman turned her back to the boys, talking about time for lunch and tough training and high caloric food, snapping at the two brothers to revise what they had been taught while she made lunch. _

_Maddy leaned against the wall of the house, feeling her attention drift away until the younger boy mentioned something that had her listening very attentively, "But master, you transmuted just by putting your hands together."_

**Transmute. Yeah, mini-me used that word too.**

"_I understand that your hands act as the circle," he clapped his hands together looking down at them, "But where is the formula?"_

"_I'm sort of acting as the formula," the master explained._

"_I don't get it," the other boy clapped his hands this time, an annoyed expression on his face._

"_How do you do that?" the first boy asked curiously._

_The woman heaved a sigh, looking up at blue sky, "You can probably do it when you gain true knowledge."_

_The world around Maddy dissolved in a grey mist leaving behind the bank emptiness of the dark world in which she had seen that pulsing ball of light and that strange young girl. But the grey haze surrounded her again, and when it Maddy found herself in a dark cavernous room with a really high ceiling with the only source of light being a fire lit on one side of the room._

_A rift opened in the space next to the fire and a silver haired woman emerged from it, lazily dragging something behind her._

"_The demons have leveled the village," the woman announced taking up a strict pose, letting go of her baggage which Maddy recognized as the girl she had seen emerge from the pulsing ball of light in her dream in the previous world. "Only the boy survived."_

"_Good," A hoarse, gravelly voice responded from the darkness. "Lord Vainington, your weapon is here as promised."_

"_It is indeed," a man agreed in a wheezy voice._

"_And do you remember your price for our little bargain?" the first man asked._

"_Yes, of course," Lord Vainington answered as he stepped into the firelight. Madiha could see wrinkles beginning to form on his face, but apart from the graying hair, she couldn't discern much else about the man. "Valeria _will_ fall and naturally, the twins of misfortune shall become a reality."_

"_Very well," Maddy saw the back of a man wearing dark robes vanish through the rift which closed after him the silver haired girl had followed him, leaving behind no traces of its existence whatsoever._

_The scrawny lord moved towards the unconscious four year old. The man procured a long jag-edged knife from his pocket, a hungry look in his eye as he put the knife to the unconscious girl's right cheek. Maddy could see her small chest heaving in rattling gasps. The man ran his thing bony finger across her face before using the knife to trace an intricate pattern on the girl's right cheek. The pattern bled, but the crimson liquid glowed softly for a while but soon it turned pitch black when the man muttered something under his breath and breathed on her face. The black began to snake along the girl's skin, like poisoned veins making her whimper in discomfort, the thin lines snaked lower along her body, vanishing beneath her shirt, appearing on her wrist that poked through long sleeves._

_The girl's eyes snapped open, the lavender in them bled over by a pitch black which was rimmed by a bloody crimson. The girl screwed them shut again as her tiny frame writhed and jerked in agony but no sound escaped her mouth. That is until, the man removed his knife._

_A shrill cry of pain escaped the girl's throat which was enough to make the seer bolt upright in her bed._

-0-

The group of searcher woke with dawn next morning although it had taken some shaking and a lot of poking on Naomi's part to wake Xahra up. Red had suggested throwing a bucket of freezing water from the river on her but luckily for Xahra, the lavender-eyed girl woke up without resorting to such a thing.

She was the only one who was stifling yawns every now and then so either she did not sleep very well last night or she was not used to waking up this early. They set off once again after they had packed their camp and concealed all evidence of having used the spot as camping grounds.

They covered a lot more ground but were still not close to their destination and had to spend the night in a moderately sized cave. Ian, Syaoran and Naomi had a meeting over maps and the stone tablet. The ninja had chosen to stay uninvolved, while Xahra had requested Bald and Red to practice some basic defensive moves with her. Which was something that confused Kurogane; the girl's movements held much more fluidity and refinement than those of a beginner yet she was still an amateur. The stance that she had assumed while fighting off that group of punks in Hanshin was a testament of that.

In the end, Kurogane decided that the girl did not know who she was. Not in the literal sense however she seemed ignorant of her abilities. But at least she was aware of this ignorance. Maybe this lack of knowledge about herself was the reason behind her wish at that witch's shop.

It wasn't until the third day that they had finally gotten close enough for Naomi to pick up on the vibrations sent out by the earth-jewelstone. Her explanation had been quite long but the gist of it had been that all stones had somehow been designed to resonate with each other's energies and since she carried the fire-jewelstone, naturally she would be able to tell when they were close even if she was the Guardian of fire and not earth, but she was a Gaurdian all the same. At least that is what she claimed.

A couple of hours before sundown, Naomi led them all up to a dead end. Xahra tried to keep the disappointment off her face but it still showed through. There was nothing more than a really high waterfall with foaming waters in front of them.

Or it was just that until, the young commanded instructed Red- who was the only archer in their group- to shoot an arrow at a small, barely noticeable indention at a height of ten feet or so on the cliff face towards the right of the fall. Once the head was safely embedded in the instructed place, the ground began to shake and to the dimension travelers' astonishment, the top of the cliff face, where the river fell from the precipice to the sloping ground below, jutted outwards, effectively moving the waterfall so that a gap was created behind it. Naomi dismounted from her horse and the others took it as their cue to get off as well. She nodded towards Ian who was immediately followed by Syaoran as the two made their way towards the newly created space. Kurogane, Xahra, Bald and Red followed the three at a more sedate pace.

There wasn't much to look at except for a couple of pillars as tall as the water fall. They must have been really grand when they had been created but now, almost a thousand years later they had withered with age, the corroding effect of water clearly showing. According to natural laws, they shouldn't even exist anymore but they stood proudly with nothing more than a blank cliff face in between them. Obviously, some unnatural force was still holding them together like this.

Almost unreadable runes, similar to the ones Kurogane had spotted on the ancient stone tablet, ran down their entire lengths in circular columns. Syaoran was currently observing the lower columns of the pillars with a fascinated expression on his face. Almost an hour later, with the sun considerably closer to the horizon, the boy had crouched near the base of the pillar, his hands running over loose stones in a small mosaic tiled pattered surrounding the whole pillar.

He jumped to his feet with excitement clearly showing in his amber eyes as he rushed over to the second pillar, all the while muttering things out loud. Unfortunately for them, the teen was speaking so fast that none of them could make neither head nor tail of what he said, but Syaoran was not aware of that. He fingers traced the runes on the second pillar as he read them, his eyes widening with realization before he crouched down once again, running his hands over the identical mosaic like arrangement of loose stones at it base.

"Amazing," he breather as he finally turned to face them. "It's a really fascinating and rather complex mechanism." He explained. "We have to simultaneously move the loose stones at the base of these pillars in the same manner in a specific pattern, which will work like turning the key in a lock."

"What will happen once the lock in unlocked?" Xahra asked.

"I'm not quite sure," he admitted sheepishly, "the runes are too high up for me to read but I suppose it will provide us with and entrance to the temple."

"Ian-san," he addressed the dark haired teen, "Could you move the stones in the right pillar? I'll handle the left one."

"Sure, just tell me what to do," he nodded, moving towards the pillar in question so he could work. After a brief explanation in which Syaoran demonstrated the pattern in which the stones had to be moved, the two of them squatted down, moving the rocks with little effort. Once the last stone had been moved, the ground began to shake once more, before a low rumbling sound was heard, like the grunt of a giant awakening from a long slumber. The rock face between the pillars began cracking starting from the top and moving towards the base until the crack met the flat surface of earth. However it did not stop there as the crack continued till it vanished into the frothy water of the falling river.

Smaller crack began branching from the main one, spreading across the entire cliff between the two columns. A small piece of stone dislodged from its position in the rock face, pushing inwards, leaving behind a gaping black hole in its place. Slowly at first but then gaining speed, the other cracked pieces also pushed inwards, mechanically moving sideways until a tall gaping doorway stood in its place. There was nothing but darkness inside but Naomi sensibly lit up a bright but small fire in the palm of her hand, casting eerie shadows inside.

"This is it guys, let's go." she said, bravely stepping inside the unknown. "Kurogane, kindly keep a lookout and mind the horses while we observe the insides of the cave." Her voice rang out from the hollow inside. The ninja grunted incoherently, watching as without a second thought, Ian followed his commander. Moving in closely behind him were Bald and Red. Syaoran blinked a couple of times as though recovering from a shock of some sort before he shot the ninja an apologetic look and hurried inside.

"Have fun with the horses," Xahra grinned playfully as she copied Syaoran and got swallowed by the darkness.

-0-

The next afternoon, with nothing to do, Fai walked out of the stone house and looked around for bespectacled girl, with the auburn-haired princess right on his heels. Maddy had mysteriously vanished after breakfast. Fai felt a strong surge of foreign energy building up in the farther end of their backyard. It felt similar to the energy that had surrounded Maddy when she had used her Kudan in Hanshin and when she had been enveloped in that bright blue light in the forest where the earthen wall had protected her and unconscious Sakura from a barrage of deadly arrows.

"Miss Maddy is in the backyard, Miss Sakura." He told the curious princess, pointing in said direction to clarify his point. The girl nodded to show she had understood. The two of them quietly walked around the house only to find Maddy crouched on her knees in front of something they could not see since her back was hiding it from view. She clapped her hands and put them on the ground and once again Fai felt the foreign energy surge through her body, flowing towards the palms of Maddy's hands.

A bright, electric blue light outlined her body before fading away along with the energy.

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to be?" they heard her groan in exasperation. "I'm pretty sure I saw mini-me draw this circle." She muttered loudly, "Or perhaps…" she trailed off thoughtfully, hurriedly moving her hand on the ground as though she was drawing something, "It was something like this."

Once again she clapped her hands and put them to the ground. Like before the energy flowed through her arms, appearing in the form of a bright light before fading away.

"Gah!" the brunette cried in frustration pulling at her hair, "Why isn't it working? What am I doing wrong?"

"Why isn't what working Miss Maddy?" Fai decided to walk over to the girl who immediately stiffened, a look of mortification on her features.

"How long have you been watching me make a fool out of myself?" she asked, her back ram rod straight. She had yet to turn around and face him.

"A couple of minutes," Fai answered lightly as he and Sakura came crouched on either sides of Maddy.

"Mu… tahw si taht?" Sakura asked looking at the object lying in front of Maddy with something akin to confusion.

"What are you trying to do with that crooked iron rod and a piece of coal?"

"I was trying to make a blade," Maddy answered dully as her shoulders slumped. She dropped the coal from her hands and climbed to her feet with a wince. She took a couple of unsteady steps and then stopped, bending down to pick up another oddly shaped piece of iron.

"But every time, I get something like this," she held it up, "or that." She pointed to the rod lying on the ground. She heaved a sigh before throwing it down, searching the numerous pockets her asymmetrical skirt for something. Fai crouched down beside the scraps and oddly shaped pieces of metal, his blue eyes taking in the intricate yet somewhat crudely drawn designs traced on their surfaces with charcoal. He frowned, picking up a piece with a particular design. He remembered having read about a distant, forgotten branch of magic that used symbols like this back when he was still training. But… This girl did not even have the faintest traces of magic inside her. At least, not the type of magic that he was proficient in using. But that foreign energy that surged through her body everytime she pulled a trick like this… Could it be that…?

Looking back towards the girl that was still busy digging through the numerous pockets in her clothes for something, Fai bit his lip. Should he? Casting one more glance in the direction of the oblivious girl, Fai picked up the discarded piece of charcoal and turned his attention to the piece of metal in his hand. It was only missing a couple of defining symbols and one of the already drawn ones was slightly misshaped. Satisfied with his work, he placed them back on the ground, idly wondering why he had even bothered drawing it in the first place. It wasn't like he could ever activate it anyways. He had never trained in that particular branch, even if he had learnt that book by heart. It was just like healing… he just couldn't do it.

"Found it!" Maddy's triumphant declaration brought him out of his musings as he looked up to see her withdrawing a thin silver, rectangular box, no wider that two of her fingers. She inserted a black wire in its side, the wire parted into two, halfway down it length and ended in two black, circular buds. She pushed a pinhead sized black piece protruding from the flat side of the rectangular box with one hand while her other hand inserted the black buds in her ears.

"What are you doing?" Fai observed her curiously.

"About to listen to some music," She answered carelessly as one side of the silver box, lit up in a bright blue color.

"Using the silver box?" he was looking at said object very closely. How could she listen to music using such an odd looking object? It did not have any visible mechanism that most instruments used to produce melodies and even if he concentrated really hard, he could not pick up any magical signals from the object.

"Silver box?" she repeated incredulously, "you've never seen an mp3 player before?"

"I guess not," he shook his head. Despite his urge to frown, he plastered a grin on his face as he asked the next question. He had not seen anything like this before in his life and even though he could hear a faint noise being emitted from those black buds, he could not, for the life of him, understand how it was being produced. It was possible they were cloaking the magic in the device to make it undetectable. But why would someone go through all that trouble for just a box to produce music? "Do people in Miss Maddy's world have magic too? Is that how it works?"

"No, my world didn't have magic. We have something called technology, like the things you saw in Hanshin."

"Ah. I see." The mage nodded in understanding. Having spent his entire life in a place that heavily relied on magic for pretty much everything, it had been quite a shock for him to find himself in a world that used science to perform the same tasks. Thankfully, his companions had been just as shocked to see such a vast application of science that his surprise had been well hidden. He _had_ been curious about why these two girls had not been so surprised at the time but if their world was similar to Hanshin, it explained quite a lot. Including their knowledge on how to operate those moving closet-like rooms called the elevators.

"But," She shot him a slightly worried look, "you guys did have music, right?"

"Of course," he laughed in response, "we had a lot of travelling musicians. Then there were court musicians too." He added scratching his chin with the finger of his right hand.

"Court musicians," she repeated, looking surprised and slightly awed as she quickly took the right bud out of her ear, "As in _Royal_ court musicians?"

"Yes." He responded, racking his brains for some sort of distraction. Discussing his life back in Celes was the last thing he wanted to do.

"So you're a prince of some sort?" she asked inquisitively.

"Prince," Fai laughed, hoping she did not notice how desperate and fake it sounded. "No. I'm not a prince." he shook his head to make his point clearer, "I was the High Mage back home. Anyhow, how does this, um… mp3 player, right? What kind of technology does it use?"

"High Mage." she whistled softly, "Wow. That sounds like a pretty big post," her expression was a mixture of curiosity and amazement, "Oh, if you were the High Mage, you had to have had apprentices, right? And you probably had a lot of... other important High Mage-ly stuff. So," she asked trying to keep her tone light. Fai inwardly prayed she did not ask the inevitable question. "Why did you leave?"

"There's someone back there that I don't want to find me." He figured if he was going to be traveling with them, this question was one he would eventually have to answer.

"Oh," she nodded, a sly grin appearing on her lips, "so you're running away from your angry girlfriend."

"I-I… wait. What?"Angry girlfriend? This was the last thing he had expected Madiha of all people to come up with. From the brief time he had known her for, the girl did not seem like the type who'd be interested in 'juicy gossip' as someone back home had once told him conversationally.

"Well, from all the shameless flirting I've seen you do over the past week," she shrugged casually, the teasing glint in her eyes tugging rather painfully at his heart as it reminded him of the last person on earth he wanted to remember. "I'd be surprised if she wasn't out for your blood. I can only imagine what you used to do back at the court."

"Fai-san, Madiha-san," Sakura's voice interrupted Fai before he could respond. The princess looked confused as she looked at the two sitting on the low but comfortable stools, "Tahw era ouy gniklat tuoba?"

"Sorry Sakura," Maddy shook her head, "Mokona's not here. I can't understand what you're saying. Can you, Fai?" she turned to the blond magician.

"Nope, me neither." He shook his head, letting a soft grateful sigh in relief at having something to distract the girl. He'd have to be more careful with what he said.

"m'I yrros, tub ouy era gnisufnoc em." She looked from one to the other, an apologetic look on her face. "tahw era ouy gnikeaps?"

"Guess, English isn't part of her language arsenal," Maddy muttered quietly but Fai heard her anyways.

"Maybe we can teach her!" the mage exclaimed in a happily. That would definitely throw her off her current train of thought.

"What?" Maddy yelped. "How in the world can we do that when she probably doesn't even know what we are saying in the first place?"

"Hmm… You have a point Miss Maddy." He pretended to look thoughtful for second. "However!" he brightened up instantaneously, "Nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it."

"Putting you mind to something doesn't make all things possible you know," Maddy shook her head.

"Yes it does," he countered with a playful grin.

"Does not." She replied stubbornly.

"Does too."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"Does not." She huffed before stopping. "Hey, wait a second." A scowl settled on her face as she threw her right hand in the air in to show her annoyance. Fai merely observed her with barely concealed amusement. "Why in the world have I started acting like a six year old? Less than half an hour with you and my brain is already fried. You're just as bad as Xahra…" turning her back towards him, she bent down to retrieve the scrap of metal he had just modified the circle on. As her amber eyes scanned the pattern, seemingly trying to make out the changes that Fai had subtly made, she murmured, "Definitely not good to be around."

"Your words wound me deeply Miss Maddy." The mage put a hand to his heart in mock hurt, grinning widely at the now distracted girl.

"They're meant to," The girl quipped simply shooting him a glance over her shoulder. "By the way," she continued turning her attention back to the metal in her hand. Fai stepped closer to stand beside her, observing her face as she studied the circle. "You might be correct about putting your mind to something and making it happen part but," the look on her face grew a bit pensive as she traced a particular symbol with her fingers, "there are a few things in this life that can't happen no matter how badly you want them to."

"And what would those be?" he asked as she withdrew her finger, reaching out for the bud she had removed from her ear earlier to stuff it back. She hit the black button on the mp3 player once again and faint sound and beats reached Fai's ears, making him wonder how loud she liked to listen to the music.

"Well, for starters there's the glaring truth that the dead can't be brought to life," she pointed out, once again staring contemplatively at the design in her hand, "No matter how badly a person wants to, no one can bring them back." She heaved a barely audible sigh and then muttered under her breath. "A lot of people learn that the hard way." She had probably not intended for him to hear the last part but maybe the music pounding into her ears had fooled her into believing that she was only just murmuring the words to herself. Fai's plastic grin faltered a bit but the girl was now fully absorbed in her thoughts so she did not notice his little slip. The princess of the desert country chose that exact moment to return to the land of slumber as she fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. The brunette looked at the unconscious princess draped across the floor before turning her gaze to Fai. A sly smile formed on her lips.

"Could you please put sleeping beauty back on her bed, _Mr_. Fai?"

_**A/N: Hmm… I wonder what power Xahra is harboring…Writing in Kuro's POV was quite difficult and I hope I managed to keep him in character. Same goes for Fai. I decided to add a bit more in his POV too. With Mokona gone, I had to develop some means for those left behind to be able to communicate so yeah, Fai happens to knows English. He has a bit of an accent but if it were upto you, what sort of accent would you guys say he has? I think it's Russian but I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. The reason why he didn't use it in Hanshin was because the thought never occurred to him.**_

_**Cookies for anyone who can guess the identity of the person the silver haired woman was talking about in the dream. **_

_**Ciao!**_


	14. Citadel: A Change of Wish?

_**A/N: ch 13, rewritten.**_

**Chapter 13:**

"Whoa! How big _is_ this place?" Xahra exclaimed as they turned around a blind corner only to end up at a junction of sorts. They were currently standing in a circular cave like room with at least seven tunneled passages branching off in different directions. "These tunnels just seem to go on forever."

"The catacombs for concealing the jewelstone were constructed in a design similar to a labyrinth," Naomi spoke up. "Only the ones worthy of its power can find the way to get to it."

"Then why do you think Mephistophele would be able to find it?" Xahra cocked her head to one side, observing the teenage commander in the flicker light of the torch held in the latter's hand.

"Because he too is a descendent of the original guardians of the stones." She answered quietly, observing Syaoran who was currently deciphering one of the numerous messages engraved in the stone walls. Helping him speed up the task was Ian. "And it's doesn't really help matters much that he is already in possession of two stones."

"What does that have to do with being worthy of the stone?"

"Only one of guardian descent can obtain it."

"This way everyone." Syaoran called out, his excited voice rebounding and echoing off in the dark tunnels all around them.

"He sure works fast." Xahra mumbled as she followed the rest of the group into the tunnel that Syaoran had vanished into.

"Naomi, do you know why the stones were created in the first place?" the lavender-eyed girl asked as the group walked deeper and deeper into the tunnel system.

"Legend has it that there was once a time when all the worlds were plundered and brought to the brink of annihilation at the hands of a very powerful witch, Naba."

"Doesn't the word mean Heralder of destruction?" Syaoran asked as he stopped next to another carving in the wall to translate the runes engraved in it.

"It does. And it fit her perfectly. She was cruel, ruthless and devastation followed where ever she went." Naomi nodded. "It is said that she worked for a king of some distant world who wanted to rule all the dimensions through her."

"What happened?" Kurogane spoke up, his deep voice startling Xahra a little.

"Well, her powers grew too much for the king to control and she ended up destroying his home world. In fact they were growing so rapidly that the elders feared they would end up consuming the entire multiverses."

"How can magic grow that powerful?"

"According to some stories, Naba had a black seal engraved in her right cheek by the king himself. It was designed to mutate her natural magic into something dark and powerful, only it ended up being too powerful. In the end, the elders created the six stones and gave each one of them to a brave warrior. The six warriors fought against Naba for almost an eternity in separated time."

"Though in the end they managed to seal her powers and trap her outside of time. They say, she is still there, to this day, lost in an eternal slumber, not quite dead but not quite living either."

"So basically, if Mephistophele gets his hands on all of them, you guys would have another Naba on your hands." Xahra concluded just as Syaoran fiddled with some moveable runes in the carving. As the final piece slid into place, the ground began to rumble before the whole tunnel began to sink.

They all struggled to steady themselves as the ground kept on lowering, until they emerged in a cavernous room. The platform that had descended settled on the edge of a precipice with nothing but darkness below. Although from the light being cast in the giant cave from a mysterious source near the centre, jagged rocks could be seen below. A small inscription was carved into the rock face to their right which Syaoran along with Naomi and Ian began to study intently.

"Ian-san, you are the descendent of the line that guarded the earth-jewelstone, right?" Syaoran looked at the blue-eyed native once he had scanned the writing till the very bottom.

"Yeah," the addressed man nodded as he turned back to face the ledge, settling down in a low crouch. "So I guess, the rest is up to me." with that he sprinted forward and jumped, hugging one of the jutting spikes to stop his descent.

"Be careful Ian." Naomi called out as she watched her friend jump from one rock to the other, going lower and lower until the darkness swallowed him whole.

"Shouldn't someone else have gone with him?" Xahra asked quietly as the sound of his grunts as he jumped grew distant until those too were replaced by an eerie silence.

"He has to prove himself worthy of the stone so he must retrieve it alone." Bald answered this time as he leaned against the wall of the cave to wait out his captain's return.

-0-

Maddy climbed under the numerous animal skins with a tired yawn. She had spent another whole day trying to figure out how to make the transmutation circles work with only one successful transmutation. What she had ended up with had not been a sword though. It had been a prong. She had tried replicating it several times but with little success. She had stowed her successful experiment along with the rest of the scraps under the furs in her room.

As she turned on her side, her thoughts drifted to her friend who was currently somewhere far away and wondered how she was doing. Five days had passed by so she would be arriving in less than forty eight hours.

Her thoughts then wandered to the one thing she had been subconsciously trying to decide upon.

Contacting Yuuko for her wish. Even though a lot of her dreams did not make any sense what so ever and were not even distantly related to her, something still nagged her to listen to the advice her brother had given her back in Hanshin. Acceptance of the fact that she would not be returning home for quite some time had wormed its way into her heart. Moping about that would do her little good so she decided on asking Mokona for some way to contact the dimensional witch.

Might as well make the most of this unwanted adventure she had been thrown into. Her mind replayed what little she could remember of the attack that had taken her brother's life and the unnerving dream she had had recently. If she got a chance to talk to the witch, she would most definitely ask her about that dream. Did her brother really make a wish to Yuuko?

_Maddy blinked a couple of times before taking in her surroundings. She was standing in an ornately decorated room with a huge window and an adjoining balcony that overlooked an icy landscape. Flakes of snow were drifting down from the grey skies and the cold air seemed to be making its way inside the room, leaving the expensive looking and richly embroidered curtains with a deep shade of blue fluttering continuously. A beautiful woman with golden hair that seemed to have been kissed by the sun itself was currently staring at her in horror with wide, chocolate brown, fearful eyes._

"_Why have you come here?" she asked softly, looking directly at Maddy. "My husband did not do anything to you yet you killed him and now you come for my sons? Why?"_

_Maddy looked at the regally dressed woman in surprise and confusion but before she could voice it, someone else spoke up._

"_It's not what your husband did or didn't do," a gentle voice answered the woman but something seemed off. Maddy felt an unpleasant chill crawl up her spine, because for some reason, that voice sounded familiar. She knew that person. But why did they sound so… inhuman? "I just came to offer my congrats… After all you gave birth to such _adorable_ little twins."_

"_What do you want with them?" the scared looking blond before her stood a little taller now, her small frame standing protectively before two identical cribs with pale silver and blue mobiles magically suspended in the air above them. The woman had her hand outstretched before her, the air in front of her crackling with a dangerous energy._

"_Nothing." Was the simple reply but Maddy could not bring herself to turn around at look at the owner of that voice afraid of what she might end up seeing. "At least, personally I don't. But they are important to my master's ultimate plan to take over the universe. And since I just told that to you, you will have to die."_

_The look on the woman's face was one of incredulity. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded angrily._

"_Well, twins are bad luck, right?" the female behind Maddy answered casually, "and you just gave birth to them," the woman stepped through Maddy, in such a manner that the dream seer could only see her back. A dark, reddish black aura surrounded the woman, making her raven, knee-length hair whip about her body in a strong magical wind. _

"_No matter what everyone else in the kingdom says, my sons are not a symbol of misfortune." The petite blond bristled in anger as the energy crackling before her gained a more corporeal from, in the shade of a pale silver._

"_Well, we can't have that belief spreading around can we now?" the dark haired woman answered in a way a mother would scold a child for stealing cookies from a jar. She raised her right hand and a dark ball of energy gathered in her cupped hand. "And it seems to me, you're going to help me prove you wrong."_

"_I won't let you harm them!" the regally dressed gold-head declared as she whipped her hand and the silver energy shot forward, towards the other woman in the room._

"_Relax, I'm not going to harm your precious little babies." What scared Maddy was not the fact that dozens of black bolts pierced through the silver magic and injured the caster of said magic but the fact that Maddy could almost see the raven-head's lips twisted in a deranged grin even though the latter had her back towards the former._

_Faster than the young brunette's eyes could follow, the dark haired woman rushed forward, grabbing the blond by her throat in her outstretched right hand- the one that had previously been cupping the dark energy in it. The captive screamed in pain as the dark magic lashed out at her, weakening her so that her own magic dissipated to nothing._

"_Sorry but you have to die now." the assaulter stated cheerfully as she moved out onto the balcony and held the blonde's weak form over the edge. _

"_Please, don't… do this… to them." the woman managed to get out as her hand uselessly tried to pry the fingers cutting off her air supply._

"_I'm not really at the liberty to do as you wish your highness." The dark-haired attacker spoke as she let go, sending the brown-eyed blond hurtling down to her death over the edge of the balcony. "Bye bye now. Tell your husband I said hi." As the screams got drowned out by the howling wind, the woman let out a soft sigh, she turned partially to stare at the cribs, where the wailing of two babies could be heard. _

_Her hair were still beating wildly around her body so Maddy was unable to see the woman's face, the only thing that she could distinguish however was the intricate black tattoo on her cheek. The one she had seen that Lord Vainington carve into the face of that young lavender –eyed child. But the woman that stood before her did not have lavender eyes. "Guess you runts end up being heralders of bad luck after all. What with your mother committing suicide just now and your father getting killed in an accident? You poor dears, I wonder how your uncle and the rest of the kingdom will treat you now."_

_The room and the cribs dissolved into a gray mist along with the dark haired woman. The scene was replaced by a void of some sort. The world that Maddy was in now was strange to put it simply. The sky and the earth both were an amalgam of deep blackish green which was translucent yet opaque at the same time._

_A gentle breeze played about her curly hair as the space in front of her began to shimmer a light shade of silver. The shimmer turned into a sparkling mist which then condensed into hundred of tiny, beautiful butterflies of the same shade. Although their wings carried a tinge of crimson and onyx._

_The butterflies flew in circles around her, brushing her skin in light feathery touches._

"_They seem to have a developed a liking towards you." A cool feminine voice spoke from somewhere to her right._

_**Yuuko?**__ Maddy gasped in shock as the silver creatures left her side zoomed towards said person._

"_You seem to have inherited your grandmother's talent." The woman spoke as though she had not heard her._

_**I was told.**__ The amber-eyed teen responded._

"_You wish to change what you asked of me when we first met, do you not?"_

_Maddy had no idea how Yuuko knew about that but she really didn't care at that time._

_**Did my brother really come to you?**_

"_It all depends on what you mean by the word."_

_**Did he really make that wish?**__ she asked impatiently. She needed a proper answer, not some dementing riddle._

"_I am not at the liberty to tell you that." The woman looked away as she spoke. _

_**I don't care. Just tell me, is what I saw in that dream, true or not?**__ Maddy asked in a forcefully calm voice. It would do her no good if she started screaming. __**Did he really give up his life for mine? Ever since I saw it, that dream has not left me alone. **_

"_Do you wish to avenge him?" Yuuko asked in her serene mystical voice._

_**Is that your way of saying yes?**_

"_I did not say anything at all." The wine-eyed woman answered with a cryptic smile._

_**Argh! **__Maddy finally let out a frustrated scream. __**You are impossible! **_

_Yuuko looked up to see something that the other girl could not but she could soon feel that she was about to wake up. "It appears our time is over for now. If you wish to talk to me, ask Mokona."_

"Madiha-san, are you alright?" Sakura's concerned voice was the first thing she heard as soon as she woke up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The brunette answered as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before sitting up. The furs pooled about her waist as she worked her hands through her hair, pulling them back in a simple braid that reached to the middle of her back.

"Oh, um Fai-san asked me to come wake you up." the caramel-haired girl said as her fingers played with the hem of her shirt.

"I see. Any idea what time it…" Maddy trailed off as her mind registered the fact that she was able to understand the young princess once again. "I can understand you!" she exclaimed as she jumped to her feet in a swift move, wincing slightly as she put the pressure on her healing ankle at a wrong angle but she didn't care much. She could understand Sakura, which meant that Mokona had to be near. Xahra was back!

"Yes, Fai-san said it was because Mokona must be coming back in our range." The princess nodded.

"They're almost here then, right?"

The jade-eyed girl nodded once more.

"Alrighty then, what are we waiting for? Let's go outside."

-0-

The sky was overcast with dark, heavy clouds and the wind howled against their faces as the group of explorers made their way back to Citadel. Around Ian's neck hung the newly acquired earth-jewelstone from a metal chain similar to the one Naomi had. Said girl was leading the group with Bald while the Ian and Red brought up the rear.

Around midday, it began to drizzle lightly but as the day wore on and they drew nearer to their destination the light rain turned into a heavy shower complete with constant hailstones. Ian used his newly acquired jewelstone to create a stone shelter for the group to wait the storm out.

The knowledge of how to use the stone, Naomi had explained when Syaoran had inquired about it, was inside every stone so that anyone who acquired it would be able to use it without the need of training. It had been a necessity at the time of their creation since the original wielders had not had the luxury of time to train since Naba's powers grew with each world she destroyed, so the longer they waited, the more difficult it would have been for them to subdue the witch. Although that meant that anyone would be able to use their powers but Naomi assured them that only a descendent would be able to unleash their true power.

Xahra found it quite odd that hail could continue raining down from the sky for as long as five hours without any chance of letting up. The natives echoed her thoughts, stating that this weather was not natural. So with a signal from the young commander, Red began chanting something under her breath creating a translucent green shield over their heads to protect them from what Bald told the travelers was magically induced rain.

"You guys have magic in this world?" Xahra had been the only one idiotic enough to state the obvious. Kurogane raised a brow at this Xahra merely shrugged her shoulders with a small grin. She couldn't help herself. Everything was new to her and she ever had been the quietest person back at home so it was only natural for her to want to ask questions and comment on anything new for her, which happened to be a lot of things.

Naomi had taken a liking to the lavender-eyed girl, so chose to humor her but just as soon as she opened her mouth to answer, her horse balked with a loud neigh. Her body tensed up as she too felt the appearance of a very powerful being. Everyone else in the little group came to halt right behind her, readying their respective weapons in anticipation of an ambush. Red was still chanting the same words to keep the shield up, but now a new set of words were added to her spell.

Kurogane scanned their surroundings through narrowed eyes same as Naomi whose blade was set ablaze as she moved closer to Xahra, minus the burning sword part. Kurogane understood why she had done that, since out of their entire group, only Xahra was an inexperienced fighter and since the Naomi was responsible for her being there, she was also responsible for her safety.

Ian had drawn his dao swords, Bald had his long katana similar to the one Kurogane had been provided with while Red had her drawn her bow and strung an arrow in it, the tip of which glowed a poisonous green.

"Greetings Commander Naomi," a cool, female voice echoed all around them even though they were in an open forest only an hour's ride away from Citadel.

"Silver." The commander growled in response just as a silver haired woman materialized a couple of feet away from the group. Xahra felt the deadly aura this woman gave off and the world swam before her eyes. For a fraction of a second the world around her disappeared into nothing but darkness, pained screams crying out to have mercy booming in her ears just as images of entire worlds smoldering to ashes in raging infernos flashed before her eyes.

Someone gripped her shoulder, bringing the horrifying vision to an end as she found herself staring into a pair of eyes blacker than a starless night itself rimmed by the deepest yet brightest shade of crimson. Silver smirked at her as she averted her gaze to the meet commander's. "Don't look in her eyes," Kurogane warned quietly as he retracted his hand. She was covered in cold sweat, Xahra noticed, and she her body was quivering.

Just what the hell had that been? All those worlds, those bloodcurdling screams and the insane laughter that she noticed only now had been accompanying them. Silver, Xahra concluded instantaneously, was a very powerful and dangerous, if her vision was anything to go by.

"Acquired a few new friends have we, princess?" The woman spoke in her sweet yet inhuman voice.

Naomi's only response was the deepening of her scowl.

"Oh come now, I'm sure the emperor taught you better manners."

"How about we just skip the pleasantries," Ian growled as he jumped off of his horse and took up a stance at the same time as his commander. "And get down to business?" Bald mimicked their actions not a second later, with Kurogane and Syaoran following suit. Only Xahra and Red were left on horseback, the former unable to control her shivers while the latter regarded the group of men that now surrounded them with a cool, calculating gaze.

"Don't blame me for not trying to be polite," the woman grinned as the deadly aura surrounding her flared to a burning intensity. For Xahra, at least. Even Red flinched at the sheer amount of power.

Naomi disregarded the blaze, with practiced ease same as everyone else. Kurogane felt the chill creep into his bones, like all the other times it did when he went to hunt demons in his home world. This woman he concluded, was not human, as he took in her attractive yet powerful form. He could identify a demon when he saw one, even if it was disguised as well as she was.

"This ought to be fun." He smirked, easily indentifying other disguised onis interspersed with normal soldiers in the group of forty or so men that encircled them.

Syaoran quick to note Xahra's reaction to this strange woman but he too could feel the effects of her presence. His breathing rate had escalated without him being aware of it and his heart was racing beneath his ribcage. But he drew in a deep breath, readying himself for the upcoming battle.

"Since you all seem so insistent on fighting," Silver's tone sounded remorseful yet her expression was anything but, "how about I grant your wish."

What came next was something Xahra was sure she would never forget.

-0-

Maddy was once again perched on the roof their temporary home, gazing at the stars as she waited for her best friend's return. Fai was inside, teaching Sakura just as he had promised although she was not sure how he could teach her a foreign language when the foreign words were just being translated into the princess's language by Mokona.

She saw a group of horses heading in the direction of the house and she scrambled down the vines, taking care not to slip like she had the last couple of times. Sakura had expressed her concern every time she had fallen, but Maddy had just brushed it off with her somewhat comforting grin.

"Don't worry about it, I'm an accident magnet but none of the injuries are something I can't walk away from," she had told the girl earlier that evening when the princess had asked her about why she did something she knew would cause her harm, "or well, limp away from." She had added with a sheepish grin. "But I have _never_ broken a bone and something tells me I never will."

"Why is that?" the jade-eyed girl had tilted her head with a cute yet confused expression.

"No idea." Maddy had shrugged, running her hand over somewhat knobby staff her latest attempts at transmutation had produced. She had worked relentlessly on what little she could remember from her dreams but she was pretty sure she had missed something or most probably unknowingly changed something in the original circle since the one that mini-Maddy had drawn had been for a short sword, _not_ a staff.

Once or twice she had even transmuted her limited supply of metal into weapons she had no idea even existed. But those had been the times when she had tried to transmute without a circle like the three times she had accidentally done before, twice in Hanshin and once immediately after their arrival in this world.

A part of her felt excited that she was able to do something out of the ordinary, in fact something similar to the boy in the stories her grandfather had always told her when she was little. But she was confused at the same time whenever her mind questioned her as to _why_ she could do it in the first place. But her mind drew up blanks whenever she tried to come up with a plausible reason.

_**All shall be revealed in due time.**_ The voice always echoed in her mind when she tried really hard.

"Oye Fai, Sakura, they're back!" she yelled through the open window before racing across the huge lawns towards the shimmering barrier between the stone pillars that marked the entrance of the property. She couldn't wait to tell Xahra about her powers.

"Hey guys," she chirped brightly as soon as the barrier vanished and Syaoran and Kurogane rode inside followed by Ian, the bald guy and the redhead. Xahra and Naomi were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Xahra?" she craned her neck past the horses back to see if they were somewhere behind them but the wide stone streets were empty.

"Hey! Where is she?" she asked a little louder when everyone trailed past her without a word, heading towards the house where Fai and Sakura had emerged by the door.

"What's going on?" Maddy tried again as she jogged with the group in an attempt to keep up.

Syaoran lowered his head while Kurogane kept on staring straight ahead with cold, emotionless eyes.

"What happened out there?" she asked in a level voice, surprising even herself since her heart was clenching up in dread.

Once the group of explorers had dismounted their horses, Ian shot an apologetic look in her direction before addressing the two dimension travelers that had accompanied him and the other locals.

"We will leave for the castle two hours before dawn," his tone however was commanding and in control, "You and your friend Fai is welcome to join us if he wishes."

"Mokona, what the hell is going on?" she grabbed the white rabbit like creature from its perch on Syaoran's shoulder. She had figured out what might have happened but was too scared to say it out loud afraid that if she said the words, they really _would_ come true.

"Xahra and Naomi were taken prisoners by the emperor's army." The creature cried softly.

"What?" Madiha laughed in disbelief looking at her companions for negate the bunny's statement. "You have got to be kidding me." she growled when the amber-eyed boy averted his gaze and the ninja said nothing.

"What the heck was your commander thinking?" she yelled at Ian, "taking her with you guys?"

"We are going to rescue them." the blue-eyed man answered her in a calm tone before turning to look at Syaoran, "Our spies have confirmed that the feather you are searching for is indeed with the emperor."

"I'm coming with you then." She declared instantaneously while at the same time Syaoran had declared something along the same lines.

"Syaoran can come along but you are not going anywhere." Ian stared at her coldly.

"If you think I'm going to willingly stay behind, you got another thought coming." She crossed her arms across her chest; her gaze hardening as she stubbornly set her jaw.

"You will be nothing but a liability," Kurogane was the one who spoke this time.

"I know how to take care of myself," she rounded at the crimson-eyed man.

"Maybe it will be for the best if you did not come along Maddy-chan." Fai finally spoke up.

"I'm not staying behind." Maddy told him coldly before she whirled around and stalked inside, brushing past the tired princess who looked at her with concern but the brunette was too angry to notice.

-0-

"The bastard got his hands on her, didn't he?" the man spoke the minute Ian entered the dark room.

"Yes." The blue-eyed man answered.

"Damn it!" the resident swore before he climbed to his feet, his hand reaching out for the sword that was resting against the wall to his right. "When do we leave?" he turned around to face Ian, stepping into the patch of moonlight spilling in through the window, making his green-eyes glow in an unnatural manner.

"As soon as the men are ready."

"Are the travelers coming along too?"

"One of their companions was taken." Ian answered.

"Very well," the green-eyed resident nodded once, the moonlight illuminating his sun-kissed hair, turning them almost silver.

-0-

Xahra threw the stool against the crimson barrier once more, a frustrated cry tearing through her throat as the electricity attacked the inanimate object throwing it back against the wall opposite to the barrier.

She slumped to the ground, angry tears forming in her eyes as she stared at her hands. Silver had taken Naomi someplace else after she had locked Xahra inside this small cell, watching her with a chilling smile all the while.

The lavender-eyed girl shuddered, as the screams she had heard when that woman had locked her gaze with hers' echoed in her ears once more. She drew her knees to her chest, looping her arms around them uncomfortably since her hands were shackled together.

What did that woman want with her?

_The handsome coal-eyed man observed her with an unimpressed gaze before looking back at the woman who had brought her here. _

"_I am pleased that you brought back my half sister, Silver," the man had spoken in a deep, oddly charming voice, "I cannot see why you brought along this weakling?" Xahra was too scared to even _get_ angry as she normally would have because this man, Mephistophele, was just as dangerous as Silver._

"_I have my reasons, My Liege." The woman had responded cryptically._

She had not been able to decipher what those reasons might be but as she looked around the small cell, she could help but feel her breathing hitch in her throat as panic began to set in. This cell was too small and Xahra was a claustrophobic…

-0-

"Mokona, can you contact Yuuko again?" Maddy woke up the white dimension hopper in the middle of the night.

"Mokona can." the creature nodded as it jumped on her palm and its jewel glowed before projecting an image of the wine-eyed woman on the stone wall before Maddy.

Yuuko looked at her with a passive face, arranging her light blue kimono as she sat down on her low back recliner. A deep blue sash was wrapped around her waist and her dark hair were pulled up in a high bun. "So you wish to change what you originally asked from me?"

"I do" Maddy nodded, her voice betraying none of the emotions she was feeling as she spoke. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage, thanks to the dream she had had just a short while ago. She had seen her younger self get shot all over again, but this time after she had been raced to the emergency room, her dream had not ended. Instead she had seen what had actually happened and why her brother had died. She had cried for almost an hour before finally gathering enough courage to do what she was about to do now.

Despite the fact that her cheeks had felt itchy and her eyes were puffy and it was an effort to keep them open, she still sat there, speaking with nothing but confidence exuding from her tone.

"In that case your previous price will no longer be sufficient," Yuuko informed her.

"I know that as well." Madiha nodded, "and unlike last time, I am completely willing to pay it as well."

"Very well, what is it that you wish?" the witch asked as something akin to pity flashed in her orbs but it was gone so quickly that Madiha knew her sleep deprived brain had only imagined it.

"For this game to not end before I can avenge my brother's death." She stated.

"Your price will be the ability to remember what you dream."

"You mean I won't be able to remember the reason I am making this wish in the first place?" Madiha growled incredulously.

"That would defeat the purpose of your wish, wouldn't it?" the woman shook her head as a small smile graced her lips. "No, everything you have witnessed so far will remain in your memories but whatever you see from here on, will only come back to you one it occurs in real life."

"Meaning I won't have a chance to change anything even if I see something horrible happening in my future since I won't remember it."

"That's one way to put it."

"Fine." Maddy answered quietly.

"Wake Mokona up," Yuuko commanded her in an equally quiet voice.

"Huh?" she looked down at the rabbit in her lap and noticed that its eyes were closed. "It fell asleep."

"Mokona understood your need for privacy." Was all the witch said as the girl woke up the magical creature.

"Mokona I need you to give this to Madiha." She held up a small black bead which had swirling golden and silver patterns on it. With a Mekyo from the rabbit, the ball was in the brunette's hand.

"Eat that and your price will be paid."

"This isn't poison, is it" she eyed the bead apprehensively, noticing that the swirls were in fact intricate carvings.

"It's a magical chocolate."

Maddy gave the witch an incredulous look before doing what she was told, her eyes widening in surprise when she tasted the bead. It was, just like Yuuko had said, a bead of chocolate.

"You have got to be kidding me." she laughed as she swallowed the piece of candy.

"Goodnight Madiha." Yuuko said as the connection terminated.

The girl looked down at the rabbit noticing that it was looking up at her with concerned eyes.

"I'm fine." She said understanding its unasked question.

"Mokona is sure the boys will bring Xahra back." It said, hopping to her shoulder. "And Mokona will go with them to make sure they don't fail."

"That's very sweet of you Mokona." Maddy patted its head gently as she picked it up and set it down on the pillow gently. "I think I'll go to sleep now." And with that, she turned on her heals and walked back to her room.

She pulled the furs up to her neck, her mind whirling with the information she had received just an hour ago through her dreams. Did she do the right thing? Giving up her ability to remember them? What it her brother came back to her to give her some advice or more information? She wouldn't remember any of that. Or what if she saw something really horrible that might occur in the future and she would be unable to stop it because she wouldn't know about it.

But it was worth it. She decided in the end. She would avenge her brother by finding the one responsible. And she would make them pay because she was beginning to remember. That dream had jogged her clogged memory and bits and pieces of information about things, she never thought she would know were now being processed in her mind at the same time as she thought about Xahra.

Her friend was being held captive by some deranged king. And the male travelers in her group had all decided to go, with Syaoran promising her to bring her best friend back.

It wasn't like she didn't want to believe them but she knew that she had to be there with them. Something was telling her that she had to go to that castle just like the others.

Maddy sat up rubbing her eyes groggily as she heard quiet footsteps outside her door.

"I'm coming too." She said as she pulled on her shoes and emerged at the doorway.

The group of assembled men and woman regarded her neutrally. Red shook her head, "Your friend was a lot more adept at fighting than you yet she was captured. Don't be a fool. Stay here and we'll bring her back."

"I'll just follow you on my own if you leave me behind." She said stubbornly.

Faster than she could react, Ian had grabbed her wrists and put something around them. A strange force pulled them together and when she looked down, she noticed that they had been shackled together by a pale bluish-silver metal.

"What the heck do you think you are doing?" she growled as she tried to pull her wrists apart and failed miserably.

"Let's move out." Ian said as he climbed his horse and turned it around.

Syaoran and Fai cast an apologetic look in her direction before following the man. Kurogane cast an impassive glance at her as he too rode by her. The green-eyed blond with gigantic metal sword strapped to his back observed her curiously as she stomped her feet in anger when she failed to free her hands. The lightning blue stone around his neck gleamed in the moonlight, declaring to the world that he too, was of guardian descent and worthy enough to wield a jewelstone.

"Let's see if we can apply some of my newly acquire knowledge on these bracelets." She smirked lightly when the rescue party vanished through the door.

-0-

_**A/N: I hope you guys liked the dream part cuz I for one, love it. I can't really believe that a mother would abandon her own children like that. There must have been something that drove the twins' mother to act the way she had. This is my reason for why she 'committed' suicide after their father died.**_

_**I wonder what Silver wants from Xahra. And who can guess the identity of the green-eyed blond with a really large sword? (His name was mentioned somewhere in the last chapter.) And what exactly is Maddy planning to do? And what is this newly acquired knowledge she talked about?**_

_**Any guesses people? I'd like to know what you guys think. I swear I won't bite, even if you make an incorrect guess. Just, don't hesitate to let me know.**_

_**In other words, review! ;) ;)**_

_**I put in a lot of effort and time in this for you guys so the least you can do is click on the button below and tell me how much you loved it. By the way I apologize for any mistakes that might be up there since this is not beta'd. If you spot any mistakes or typos, feel free to yell at me but make sure you point out where and what I mistyped so that I can go and correct it.**_

_**Till next time.**_

_**-Nims.**_


	15. Citadel: Time for Plan A!

_**A/N: Alrihty! So it's finally time for a new update and not just a redone chapter. But before I let you guys go on ahead and read, I need to respond to an anonymous reviewer who signed their review by the name of RYNO. You guys can skip on ahead to the actual chapter but if you might have the same gripes and RYNO, be my guest and read my explanation. ;)**_

_**I'm gonna call you RYNO for now since I don't really have anything else to address you by. I totally understand how demanding life can be so no worries there. ^_^ Now onto the actual response. Honestly speaking, I don't consider your review a flame so don't apologize. It's full of advice on how I can improve and that is more than welcome. I try to include as much detail as I can when I'm writing the fights but sometimes I end up getting… bored and a bit lazy *sweatdrops* I guess that's probably the only reason why I'd gloss over the fight scenes. Or if I feel like it's getting a bit too repetitive. The reason why I just jumped over the whole big fight in Hanshin (you're not the only to complain about that one by the way ^_^; ) is that around the time I wrote that chapter, I had been reading a few other fanfic versions of the TRC manga and in pretty much each and every one of them retold the manga version of the fight with only a few minor changes and honestly speaking that sorta bored me. I had already made some major changes to the flow of events and it seemed to me that if I ended up having my OCs interrupt the fight in some manner (since I could not think of any other way to **_**not**_** make it all just a plain retelling of the manga with my OCs inserted into it) they would fall into the Sue category pretty easily since Fai and Syaoran and Kuro are pretty awesome too. I'm not sure if I managed to get it across what was running in my head while I wrote it but the thing is… a) it was boring to do it like everyone else. b) I did not want either Maddy or Xahra to end up falling into the Sue trap by interfering with the big fight. So I skipped it over in a way. ^_^; **_

_**But I'll keep in mind what you said and try to not do that in the future. *sweatdrops* I think my response to the first one was just as long as what you said.**_

_**Okay, next! Hmm… Describing the environments a bit more. I'm working on that but it may a take while for me to actually incorporate it properly into my style. Bear with me till then. No worries about being a word-nazi. I'm friends with a lot of grammar-nazis so I'm kinda used to the whole deal. ;) ;)**_

_**FMA Brotherhood is awesome! Though I'm afraid I cant say the same for the TRC anime. I prefer the manga and the five OVAs. I really wish they'd do over the whole series and make the anime follow the storyline . Now **_**that**_** I'd love. (Wow, my response over a page in my 20 page word document. -_- )**_

_**Take it easy RYNO, you did not embarrass me nor will criticism make me want to quit writing. In fact I'd love hear from you again and any further advice would also be appreciated.**_

_**I'm glad you caught my references to FMA but rest assured it was completely intentional and I do have a proper plan in mind about how it's all supposed to fit in. it's still mainly going to be TRC but FMA and one other fandom will end up being crossed over with this since my plot bunnies demand it. I think disclaimers are not really all that necessary since I'm posting this on which automatically means that I am not the owner of any of these works but! If it helps.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: **__**Listen up everyone! I do not own TRC, FMA or any other characters that end up being crossed over in this mega project of mine. I only own my OCs which will keep on popping up here and there so I won't mention them by name. I seriously do wish I owned Fai and Syaoran though… oh and Roy and Ed. Those four are awesome! ^_^**_

_**Now! You can go ahead and read the update!**_

_**Enjoy~**_

_**Chapter 14:**_

"_Let's see if we can apply some of my newly acquired knowledge on these bracelets." She smirked lightly when the rescue party vanished through the door._

A brilliant blue light flashed around her wrists for a second before the silver shackles twisted and broke in the middle. Without the link connecting them, the silver cuffs appeared to be slightly de-shaped bracelets.

"Yes!" She grinned widely before tugging her hair back into a ponytail. She could hear the men talking outside the house but thankfully no one had noticed the flash of light her alchemic display had formed. She tried not to think too much on how she had managed to do it right this time. It was almost as if the information was buried away deep within her mind somewhere and the only time it came to the forefront was when she allowed her instincts to kick in and lead her thoughts. She was sure of one thing though… She had most definitely been reciting some sort of equations and chemical components inside her head when she had been attempting to break the link between the cuffs. Racing back to her room, Maddy reached under the furs and retrieved the three pronged fork she had successfully transmuted a few days back. Apart from her subconscious bouts of alchemy, this was the only successful transmutation that she had performed though. Tucking the fork under the belt that lined her asymmetrical skirt, Maddy tried to silently slip out the door.

During her time spent wandering around the city when she had nothing else to do, Madiha had noticed something interesting about the carriages that were used in the city to transport goods and people. The carriages had a set of long horizontal compartments built beneath their bodies, probably as a means to store extra luggage perhaps? Almost like the trunks built into the backs of automobiles back in her homeworld. She had spotted two carriages gleaming in the moonlight, through the window when she had been arguing with Ian about going along.

She peeked out of the window and spotted Red chanting something as she stood next to the pair of carriages. Right before her eyes, a pale red glow enveloped the two coaches as they slowly turned darker than the night itself. Was that woman some sort of enchantress? It sure looked that way when Maddy noticed her eyes glow in an almost unnatural way when she glanced towards the window. Quickly ducking behind it, Maddy made her way towards the door, keeping low to the ground and praying to God that she did not trip and fall flat on her face and get detected before she figured out a way to hide in the lower compartment of one of the coaches. If she managed that, she could easily travel with everybody else, completely undetected.

"Maddy-san?" Sakura's sleepy voice had her cursing just as she was about to duck out the door.

"Go back to sleep," She hissed distractedly as she peeked out the door to see if they were still there. A light breeze brushed past her face, bringing with a wet earthen scent. It seemed that despite the cloudless sky, rain would soon be pouring out of the heavens,

"What are you doing?" Sakura whispered as she padded over and crouched next to her.

"Go back to bed, Sleeping Beauty." Madiha's whispered words came out rather harshly as she continued observing the group outside prepare the carriages for their trip.

"Are you going to sneak into one of the carriages?" she asked, sounding surprisingly alert for someone who was comatose most of the day. Damn, the girl was sharp.

"So what if I am?" Maddy growled stubbornly. If she tried to stop her, she was going to give the princess a piece of her mind. She had had enough with people telling her how bad an idea that was. She was _going_, damn it!

"I want to come too." The princess's words had her gaping though.

"W-what?"

"Everyone is going to face the emperor to get my feather and rescue Xahra-san, right? So I want to help too."

The brunette stared at the princess for a while before turning his attention back to the soldiers outside. "…_They_ don't want us to go though." Madiha grumbled under her breath as she noticed the men move towards the other side, probably to get a briefing from Ian about what their plan was for the whole operation. She pondered over Sakura's declaration for a little while. Everyone else in their little group knew how to defend themselves, right? Syaoran _did_ have an impressive fighting style. And he was from the same world as Sakura… So who's to say the petite princess didn't know how to fight as well. The last time, she had been too weak and out of it to actually put up any sort of fight when they had first encountered Naomi but she seemed pretty wide awake right now.

"Okay, listen," she hissed as a plan began to form in mind. Taking her along might prove to be an advantage if she was capable of fighting like Syaoran. Heaven knows she'll need the help, "if you are coming along, you follow my lead, alright. Oh and… Don't you dare trip and fall and get us caught, got it?" Maddy added as an afterthought, completely missing the irony of her statement at that time though, seeing as how, _she_ was the one prone to bouts of clumsiness. She had yet to find out about the princess sharing this habit with her.

"I understand."

"Good. We need to hurry then. There are a couple of compartments built under each carriage to store luggage and stuff. I'm pretty sure they're empty though since they have all the weapons on themselves. We're going to hitch a ride using those compartments. It might not be all that pleasant to travel this way but it's all we have, so stay quiet until we get there."

"Okay."

"Come on then." Keeping low to the ground, Madiha could not believe her sudden bout of good luck as she managed to make it all the way to the compartments beneath the carriages without getting detected _or_ tripping over her third foot. Helping the princess climb into one compartment as the wind began to blow harder, Maddy quickly slipped in the next one and not a moment too soon. She felt the weight tip the carriage as the group of rescuers clambered inside. She could hear faint talk but it was not loud enough for her to make out any words. As soon as the electromagnetic mechanism installed below the carriages to allow them to levitate and move, the hum drowned out even that. Maddy could see nothing but absolute pitch darkness and she could feel the top of her tiny hiding place brush her left shoulder as she lay on her right side, facing the compartment's door, with her legs curled, knees drawn to her chest. It was uncomfortable as hell, especially when she got jostled everytime the carriage made a swift turn or took a dip or climbed up some sort of slope, but she was glad that at least, she was not claustrophobic. She'd have been hyperventilating by now if that had been the case.

The thoughts of claustrophobia sent her mind racing as worry about her friend's fate gripped her heart. The lavender-eyed girl appeared to be almost perfect to the people she met, but it was only once you got close to her and got to know the girl that you found out just how fragile her friend truly was. Despite being the only child of her adoptive parents, Xahra had far too many insecurities to count. Not knowing about her origins and her real family was something that affected the girl too deeply. So deeply in fact that she had fooled herself into believing that if she failed to be perfect, no one would want her around. It was silly and Maddy had tried so many times to tell her otherwise, but Xahra still had trouble believing her words.

Madiha had a vague suspicion that this fear and many others that Xahra seemed to harbor in her heart, were a result of some sort of traumatic accident in her life before she had been adopted from the orphanage. It was entirely possible that that event had led to the suppression of her memories in the first place. Funnily enough, Xahra had once confided to her about having the same thoughts. She had refused therapy when her parents had suggested it though.

Xahra always managed to come out on top of her class every year, despite the fact the Madiha worked her butt off unlike her friend who had a freakishly superior memory. The same case was true for physical activities, both inside and out of school. It was almost like her body had already been hardened and trained to do much more difficult activities than the ones they usually did since Xahra was always so graceful and _perfect_ it used to make Madiha envious of the girl when they were little.

They had been around fourteen when Xahra had had her first boyfriend and had gotten her first taste of heartbreak. The breakdown that had followed after Xahra's breakup had been the first time Maddy had seen her best friend's perfect mask crack and shatter and break into millions of tiny pieces as she had cried her heart out and let her in on her insecurities. That was the moment, as Madiha had held onto a sobbing Xahra that she had promised to be different for her. She had promised to not give up on her friend till their dying breaths. The promise has started out as a means of providing comfort to the distraught girl but had ended up changing the entire nature of their relationship. The two had become closer than sisters and despite all their differences and bickering and little occasional spats, the two were inseparable.

"I have no idea what the heck I'm gonna do once I get there," she muttered under her breath, trying to swallow her nerves that threatened to make her sick as the stupidity and hastiness of her decision finally began to sink in. She was completely screwed. She just knew it. "You better be grateful though, Xahra. If I get killed trying to rescue you, I am _so_ coming back as a ghost to haunt you until you die."

-0-

"It's okay, calm down Xahra." Naomi tried to soothe the hyperventilating girl. She had been thrown in the cell next to the lavender-eyed girl's approximately five minutes ago and the girl had been curled up in a ball in the middle of the tiny cell, muttering to herself as she rocked back and forth, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she clenched her eyes shut.

"N-Nai kar skti." she heard the girl's muffled response. "M-Mujhay yehan say bahar nikalna hai." [I c-can't. I-I need to get out of here.]

"Xahra, listen to me." Naomi said, despite knowing that for some strange reason, she could not understand a word of what the girl had just said. "Listen to my voice alright. Focus on that. I'm right here, in the next cell, alright?"

"Oh G-God!" Xahra gasped in mortification, surprising Naomi greatly when she uttered those words in a language the young captain could actually understand. She was in hysterics now. "t-the walls are caving in… they're going to crush me."

"No they're not." Naomi said firmly. She needed to get them both out of here… and fast. Before Silver decided to pay them both another visit. The female demon had left the other girl alone for now, but Naomi could tell there was something that Silver wanted from the other.

-0-

"It is crucial that we get in undetected. If they sense us coming before we get inside, the castle will become unplottable and it'll be impossible to even know where it is, let alone enter it." Ian relayed to the three dimension travelers as their carriages sped in the direction of the emperor's castle. Dawn was only a short while away but by a sudden stroke of luck, dark storm clouds had covered the previously clear sky and the howling wind outside their carriage made it impossible for the electromagnetic hum of the carriages to be detected by a patrol party. But despite the weather being in their favor, Mephistophele had other ways of detecting his enemies.

"How is that possible? You know its location, don't you?" Kurogane grunted as he crossed his arms and observed the second in command of Citadel.

"It's one of the specialties of the stones that are in Mephistophele's possession." The green-eyed blond that had been introduced as Cloud by Ian answered this time.

"Apart from the guards is there anything else we need to watch out for in that case?" Fai asked.

"That woman, Silver, she's a sensor." Cloud responded, his eyes narrowing in dislike at the thought of the silver-haired woman.

"She's a demon." Kurogane decided to contribute his observation, noticing Cloud give him a fraction of an appraising nod, "they have an inherent ability to sense the approach of hostile forces." So it seemed like he wasn't the only one who knew that.

"The demon's abilities _can_ be blocked out using magic though." The blond magician piped up cheerfully.

"You said you were a magician, right?" Ian spoke up, "Do you think you can do something about it?" Kurogane wondered why they did not ask their enchantress, Red to perform a spell instead.

"I'm sorry," Fai said softly as he shook his head in negative, "I gave up the source of my magic as a price in order to be able to use Mokona. I'm afraid I won't be of much help to you in that regards."

"Yuuko will know what to do!" Mokona piped up all of a sudden as the jewel on its forehead glowed brightly before projecting an image of the dimensional witch into the air.

"Oh hello again Mokona," the witch spoke as she smiled at the white dimension hopper. "Fai and Kurogane and… What's this?" Her attention was drawn to the two guardians seated across from the dimension travelers. "The Guardian of Earth and Lightening. Interesting company you two have landed in." the last part she said to Fai and Kurogane. "What are your names, Guardians?"

"Ian and Cloud." The second in command responded, feeling somewhat surprised that the woman had been able to recognize them so quickly, "You would be?"

"Yuuko Ichihara," she smiled, "the witch of the dimensions."

"So you're not a myth." Cloud muttered under his breath but it was still caught by the wine-eyed witch. Kurogane eyed the blond a little warily, it seems this particular blond was far more informed about things than his companions.

"No I am not." She grinned widely, eyeing the warrior closely, "But I don't believe you contacted me to confirm my existence."

"Yuuko," Mokona took this chance to speak up again, "Xahra has been taken prisoner by the emperor's army who we think also has Sakura's feather."

"They have a demon that can sense our approach," Kurogane decided to contributed as well, "it can warn the emperor of our arrival before we have a chance to get inside the castle."

"Why are you so worried about them finding out that you're coming?" the witch teased the ninja, causing the red-eyed man to scowl, "I'm sure your brute strength would be enough to break down any barricade they might put in place, no?"

"The emperor is also a Guardian," Ian answered this time, "His jewelstone allows him to conceal the location of the castle upon his will."

"I see." The dimensional witch nodded, "so what do you need?"

"We need something to block the demon's ability to foresee our arrival." Fai was the one that spoke.

"Why?" Yuuko quirked a brow, "You can just as easily use your magic to perform the task, no?"

"My tattoo was the source of my magic. I gave it up as a price for Mokona." He grinned carelessly.

"The tattoo served another purpose, did it not? Taking away the source of your magic would be a bit of an overcharge."

"Even so," Kurogane noticed how the magician's smile turned a little strained upon the witch's words, "I have made it a rule not to use my magic without the tattoo."

"Very well," the witch sighed dramatically, "I can provide you with an alternate means to avoid detection but I will require a payment."

"Would my staff suffice?" Fai spoke up, brandishing the magical item readily for all to see. How he managed to get the long stick to fit inside their overstuffed cabin would be something that would forever remain a mystery. Kurogane narrowed his eyes at the grinning blond as he took in the sight of his beaming face. The mage seemed rather eager to be rid of it, first offering it as a payment instead of his tattoo and now as payment for the means to avoid detection.

"Give it to Mokona." The witch instructed, the white dimension hopper surprising the occupants of the cabin as it swallowed the staff whole and spit out what appeared to be a crystal ball filled with pale shimmering liquid.

"The liquid inside that crystal will form fumes when the ball is broken. Anyone that is within the range of those fumes will not be sensed by the sensors of any sort even after the fumes have dissipated."

"We're almost there." Red's voice came from outside the coach as soon as Yuuko's projection vanished.

-0-

Madiha resisted the urge to cough as thick fumes filled the inside of her hiding place for a brief while before vanishing into thin air. She could sense that the carriages had become stationary so they had most probably arrived at their destination. When she could no longer hear the sounds of movement outside, she hazarded a peak outside, noticing the area to be clear. The wind was blowing quite hard now but thankfully it served as a perfect cover for her and her partner. No one would be able to hear them coming over this racket. It worked the other way around as well but Madiha decided not to ponder on that for too long. Quickly, she pushed the compartment all the way open before climbing out, wincing as her back gave several loud pops when she stretched.

"Oye, Sleeping Beauty," she hissed, sliding the door to Sakura's hiding place open, "let's go."

God seemed to be favoring her a lot today, seeing as not only did they manage to make it all the way to the castle undetected, they even found a small hole in the wall they were pressed up against that gave them a way into the castle without having to face the guards.

"Hey Sakura," she turned to the princess following behind her like a little puppy and surprisingly keeping up with her as they made their way across the vast gardens, "if you were the bad guy, where would you keep your prisoners?"she had to lower her voice to a near whisper. For some strange reason, not even a single leaf rustled inside the boundaries of the castle walls.

"Umm… the dungeons?" the desert princess offered a little hesitantly as she looked around them nervously. The brunette opened her mouth to respond when she heard what was definitely the sound of footsteps heading their way.

"Uh-oh, quick! Hide." Madiha hissed as she jumped behind a bush that bore flowers that looked like a cross between the rose and the hibiscus. "Ow." She moaned, having hit the ground harder than she had anticipated. The princess was only breathes behind her, unlike the brunette, she landed rather gracefully beside the bespectacled girl. A couple of seconds later they heard the footsteps come frighteningly close.

"Hey, you heard that?" she heard one of the guards call and her breath caught in her throat. She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to dampen her breaths and used her other hand to do the same with the princess. Those guys were armed with crossbows and swords. If they found out they were there, they would not hesitate in getting rid of the pair of girls. And she'd rather not have to come back as a ghost to haunt her rather useless best friend. Haunting her would turn really old and boring in the first couple of hours. And she'd rather not have to face such torture for the other girl's remaining lifespan.

She did not hear the men say anything else but she could hear the soft almost predator life footsteps that were approaching their hiding place. Madiha clamped her hand harder on her face to stifle any sounds of gasping breaths. To her infinite surprise just as the man was about to reach their bush, a static sound followed by a loud crackle filled the air as the short radios the guard apparently carried came to life.

"_All units report to the north wing. Intruders alert. Repeat intruders aler-argh!" _

"Let's go!" the guard's partner exclaimed and Madiha nearly melted into a puddle from the relief at having the guards leave without checking their rose-hibiscus hybrid bush. "That was close…" she sighed as she climbed to her feet and helped the princess up as well. "All right Robin! To the Batmobile!"

"Sorry?" Sakura looked at the older girl in confusion as Madiha realized what she had just said.

"Nothing. I meant let's try and find the dungeons."

_To the Batmobile?_ _I don't even _like_ Batman. _She inwardly groaned. _Stress and nerves are so not good for my mental health._

-0-

Naomi was having a hard time trying to keep the claustrophobic girl calm. Her half brother had taken her jewelstone rendering her helpless inside this small cell that did not even have enough place to pace! On top of that, Xahra's hysterics were not helping her in thinking a way out of this situation.

"Wow!" a familiar voice exclaiming happily had Naomi's eyes widening to the size of saucers, "I can't believe we made it all the way down here without being caught."

Bringing _her_- of all people- along to come rescue them? What the heck was Ian thinking? That girl was a walking talking disaster waiting to happen.

"Okay, Sakura, you stand guard here, I'll go check the cells and see if they're somewhere here." That idiot was not even bothering to whisper. What if the guards heard them? And she brought _Sakura?_ The frail princess that could not even stay awake for more than a few hours? What in the world had possessed Ian? At least those other three could _fight!_

"Maddy! What the heck are you doing here?" Naomi resisted the urge to tear at her own hair because not only would that be really painful, it would also end up with her becoming prematurely bald-headed if she did it every time she was frustrated at her situation.

"Oh, hey Naomi," Madiha's grinning face appeared at the opening to her cell, "any idea where Xahra is?"

"She's in the cell next to mine but she's going into hysterics for some reason. Or she was until a short while back." She corrected herself, noticing the complete lack of sounds from the prison that was joined to her own.

"Shit." Madiha cursed as she withdrew from the door and disappeared from the captain's line of vision. "She passed out. Any idea where I can get the keys to open these doors?" she asked, reappearing at the door to her cell.

"Wait," the captain blinked, letting the girl's words sink in, "you mean you don't have the keys?"

"Um… no?"

"Why didn't you take them from the guards when you knocked them out?"

"…" Madiha merely scratched the back of her with a sheepish grin.

"You _did_ knock out the guards, didn't you?" Naomi asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Uh… we just snuck in when no one was looking?"

"… and you're not even bothering to keep your voices lowered?" she half screamed before realizing that she was being louder than even Madiha.

"Take it easy," the brunette raised her hands in a placating manner, "there was no one there when we came down here."

"The guards weren't there?" the grey-eyed captain repeated incredulously.

"I just said that, didn't I?" the girl rose a brow behind her glasses, "Now shut up for a while and let me figure out how to get you out of there." Naomi could only blink as the girl turned around and began pacing in front of her cell, murmuring something that surprisingly sounded like _Silicon, Carbon, Oxygen, Sulfur… no wait… Silicon, Iron, Oxygen…_

"Argh!" she cried out in frustration after almost five minutes went by, "the stupid thing only comes to me when things go to hell… Okay," she took a deep breath as she turned around to face the captain's prison, "plan B." The brunette said decisively as she drew out a three pronged fork from her skirt and proceeded to jam it in the lock of Naomi's cell.

"What was plan A?"

"I was trying to figure that out myself…" Madiha deadpanned as she heaved against the lock though Naomi could see the metal of the weapon itself start to bend.

"Careful, you might end up-" the middle prong of the fork broke with a twang as it clacked with the lock and fell to the ground. "-breaking the fork…"

"Argh! Damn it!" Madiha screamed in rage as she flung the broken weapon at the bars of Naomi's prison.

"Umm… Maddy-san?" Sakura called out meekly as she appeared behind the brunette.

"What?" the bespectacled girl turned around, almost hitting the princess as she did so, "Why aren't you standing guard at the stairs?"

"There's someone coming this way." The princess said, biting her lips as she glanced towards the stairs.

Madiha tensed instantaneously.

"Someone as in a single someone or someone as in multiple someones?"

Naomi was thankful that the girl at least had enough sense of mind to lower her voice to a whisper. Maybe they could hide someplace until whoever it was left? That is if they had somehow- hopefully- momentarily gone deaf while Madiha had been throwing a tantrum. Otherwise, there was no way someone coming from a mile away would not have heard her.

"It sounded like a lot of people." Sakura whispered back.

"You two should hide until whoever it is leaves. Head deeper into the dungeons where it's darker." Naomi hurriedly advised the two as the sound of pounding footsteps grew louder. "Hurry!"

Before anyone could move or act on the captain's instructions though, a cold voice pierced the silence like a cleaver. "It was clever of you to use magic to avoid detection but I'm afraid that's the farthest your wit will take the two of you." Silver spoke in frigid anger as she stepped out into the light, an ugly frown settled on her face making her look slightly like the demon she truly was. "It's the end of the line girls."

Naomi grit her teeth in rage as Silver's minions appeared behind her, all wearing repulsive, bloodthirsty grins, saliva dripping from their parted mouths as they eyed the outside the prison.

"Sakura, you take the left half and I'll handle the right half, okay?" Madiha whispered softly, causing Naomi's blood to run cold.

That idiot did not know that the princess could not fight?

They were _doomed!_

"Umm… Maddy-san…" Sakura whispered back hesitantly as the girl shrunk in on herself, her hands playing with the hem of her shirt as she looked between the demons disguised as humans and the brunette beside her.

"What?" Naomi could almost hear the gears turning inside the brunette's head as she suddenly froze. "Don't tell me… you have no idea how to fight, do you?"

"Well… I don't have most of my memories back yet so maybe…" the jade-eyed princess explained apologetically. How could the girl have the time to be apologetic when she was moments away from death was beyond Naomi but what surprised her even more was Madiha's reaction. The girl started laughing! Loudly so.

"Maddy! Have you lost your mind?" Naomi hissed, trying to draw the girl's attention to the demons that were now beginning to close in on the pair but she only laughed harder, stumbling back to crash into the bars of her prison.

"M-Maddy-san?" the princess backed up nervously until her back collided with the bars of the prison that was probably Xahra's.

"What's so funny?"

Madiha gave her a crazed, shit-eating grin over her shoulder as she clapped her hands together, "Things just went to hell." She said as she pressed the palms of her hands against the lock. "Time for plan A."

Naomi felt the air shift as a foreign energy gathered around the door. There was a blinding flash of electric blue light before the lock on the door began to melt, pulling away from the door as Madiha removed her hands but instead of falling to the ground, it reshaped itself into a three pronged fork.

"Here!" she thrust the newly formed weapon through the bars towards Naomi and not a moment too soon for in the next instant she was blasted away by a red light, sending her crashing into Sakura.

Without waiting for anything else, Naomi kicked her way out of her cell, charging at the demons that were almost at the girls. There were still a few demons separating her from the pair though. As Naomi slashed and hacked through the creatures, sending them back to hell as she fought, she could only pray that she was not too late in reaching the girls.

Naomi felt the energy gather in the air once more before a flash electric blue light erupted from the center of the semi-circle formed by the horde of demons.

"Get away you perverts!" Madiha screamed, shocking Naomi when she managed to launch three demons high into the air. She was brandishing a fork similar to the one in Naomi's hand though she was wielding it in the wrong manner. "Bloody bastards!" she snarled, launching herself at the demons that had yet to reach the ground, "How dare you grope me!"

Naomi tore her eyes away from the suddenly formidable girl as the brunette proceeded to beat the crap out of the three demons, when a sword narrowly missed decapacitating her head. Bringing the fork around in a sweeping motion, Naomi jumped away from her assailant.

"Interesting friends you've made, princess." The silver-haired demoness commented.

"Sakura, get Xahra out of the cell and see if you can get out of here." Naomi addressed the princess as she narrowed her eyes, not letting her sight stray from the female demon before her, "I'll cover you."

Naomi had a vague suspicion that Silver's demons, the ones that got killed, could not be summoned by the demoness again. And every higher level demon had a particular number of lower ranking demons that they could summon into this plane of existence. It seemed like Silver had reached her limit. Not waiting for the jade-eyed princess to respond, the young captain rushed towards Silver.

"Aww… look at the little princess," Silver cooed condescendingly, "trying to act brave in the face of her death."

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did, Silver."

"Is the widdle pwincess angwy that the mean old Silver corrupted her big bwother?" mocked her opponent, "give it up while you still can princess. Grayvon is only a ghost of the past, the emperros is Mephistophele now."

Behind her, she was vaguely aware of Sakura supporting a semi-conscious Xahra just as Madiha dealt a finishing blow to the last demon.

"That oughta teach you groping perverts."

"Maddy-san!" Sakura called the brunette to help her with the lavender-eyed girl, who was still not able to move about on her own power. The creature popped out of existence in a puff of blistering black smoke just as Madiha hurried over to help her friend.

"Giving up is not an option." Naomi growled in response to the demoness's statement, pushing aside all her emotions except for her hatred and anger towards the creature standing before.

"Too bad," Silver grinned, "I guess this means you all die after all."

"We'll just have to see about that." The captain hissed as she took up a fighting stance, "Maddy, Sakura," she addressed the girls behind her, "take Xahra and get out of here."

-0-

Madiha thought about staying behind to help the captain fight against the strange woman for a fraction of a second but knew she was nowhere near as good as her when it came to fighting so she'd just end up getting in the way. It was a surprise that she had even managed to beat three of those brutes on her own. God might have been favoring her a lot today but it was best if she did not push her good luck. Who knows when it might decide to run out on her? Best use the opportunity to escape while she could.

Surprisingly enough, the three managed to make it back out of the castle without any further incidents, sneaking out using the same hole they had used to enter the castle in the first place. They even succeeded in locating the carriages the rescue party had used to reach the castle. Madiha and Sakura helped a woozy Xahra into one of the carriages.

"Whew! Who knew carrying someone as thin Xahra would end up being so tiring…" she groaned, stretching her limbs, wincing as several joints popped again. "I need to get in shape if every world we visit is gonna have something like this happen, eh Sakura?"

Her only answer was a thump as a body hit the ground.

"Great." She slumped against the carriage, turning her head to stare at the dark sky as the first drops of rain began to fall, "Sleeping Beauty is off to lala land again…"

With a huff, she straightened up before proceeding to drag the unconscious princess of to the same carriage as her best friend, climbing in after pushing the jade-eyed girl inside as lightening flashed across the sky and the heavens roared like an angry beast.

_**A/N: Alright now some of you might have complaints about me describing Xahra as being near perfect with an irrational paranoia and claustrophobia as her only weakness. She seems like a very flat character that just might qualify to be given the Sue award, no? To tell you the truth, that is all **_**intentional**_**. There is a perfect reason for her being the way she is but I'm afraid that won't be revealed until much much muchhhhhhh later. I've been dropping mega-hints all over the past few updates but I'm not sure how many of you would be able to figure it out. So yeah, please don't tell me about her shortcomings as an OC. It's all, I repeat, intentional. I rewrote the whole damn story atleast three times to ensure they wouldn't end up turning into Sues. Do you honestly think I'd make the same mistake as soon as I put up a new chapter again? ;) **_

_**Oh and the reason why Maddy has such good luck in this chapter is because Sakura is with her. She keeps on thinking God is favoring her while in reality its Sakura's good luck that is saving her from being busted since if she gets busted Sakura, gets busted. And Sakura is the favored daughter of the gods, so Maddy gets lucky as well. And her fight with the demons… I tried to go a slightly comedic effect there which is why she managed to beat them so badly while she is blinded by her anger. But I'm pretty sure, even under normal circumstances, girls usually do end up getting enraged and thus revealing the scary demon buried deep inside of them that has men scared shitless. (excuse my language please) I'm just saying anger can be a very effective weapon when used correctly and even though it was unintentional, she did use it correctly. ;) Under normal circumstances, Madiha would have been –in her own words- completely 'screwed'. xD**_

_**The next chapter will probably be the last for this particular arc. And it will be onto a new world for the group of travelers. **_

_**But before you guys sign of… Do leave a review. I'd appreciate any questions, comments or criticism. And people, this is a NEW chapter. I demand that I get lots and lots and lots of reviews to feed my dying plot bunnies so that you can get the next update.**_


	16. Citadel: Feathers and Tattoos

_**A/N: This is not proof-read but since I'm a little too impatient to wait and my beta is quite busy with work and real life, I figured I'd put this up as it is. I'd appreciate if a lot if you guys could point out any mistakes that you might find as you read the story. I've read it over but it's entirely possible I might have missed a thing or two… or ten. *sweatdrops* But anyhow… this is the last part for this arc. I can almost hear you guys going 'Finally! /About time!'. Hehe… enjoy~**_

Naomi growled as her thrusting weapon met nothing but air. She was more comfortable with using swords, but she could wield forks as well. Being part of the royal family, even if she had been the child of the king's second wife, she was a princess and thus an heir to the throne should anything happen to the crown prince, her older brother Prince Grayvon. Unlike some of the distant lands, her kingdom held no qualms against training a princess in the art of weaponry, if only because should anything ever happen to her half-brother, she would be the one to lead their people. And a leader that could not protect his or her own life could not be trusted to protect the people. And thus, the young Princess Naomi had been trained from an early age in the arts of combat and weapon-wielding, politics, diplomacy, and pretty much everything else her brother was trained in. Her teachers had deemed it fit to train her in swordfighting, but had brought her to an acceptable level in archery and twin-fork wielding as well, as these three were the major weapons used at the time of the former king's reign.

Grayvon was nine years older than her. She was about eleven years old when _it_ happened. Grayvon went berserk one night, killing off not only the king, but his step-mother and the king's entire advisory council as well as well as the Royal Guard. Cloud Strife, the oldest son of the king's prime advisor and Grayvon's best friend, had seen the bloodlust consume his friend but had somehow managed to save the princess's life, bringing her away with the only surviving members of the Royal Guard, Red and Bald. The red-headed guard had managed to bring with her another survivor from one of the advisory council's families, Ian Strobhold. A few weeks later, the five had somehow managed to make their way to Citadel, the leaders of the city welcoming them with open arms despite the great reward set on their heads by the newly-crowned emperor, Mephistophele. Citadel declared their opposition to the emperor before resurrecting the shields around the great city to save its inhabitants as the people rebelled against the tyrant.

News of the emperor's conquests for the Guardian's Jewelstones reached the city only half a year later from the spies that had somehow managed to infiltrate the ranks of the emperor's army. Unfortunately, they were soon found out and killed in the most painful ways imaginable. The men were remembered as heroes by the people of Citadel. The previous king's Advisory Council had consisted of the descendants of the original guardians, so despite the emperor's attempts to wipe out all the other guardians' bloodlines from the face of existence, three still managed to survive.

Cloud, the guardian of Lightening. Ian, the Guardian of Earth. And Princess Naomi, the Guardian of Fire.

And while the emperor had somehow secretly managed to acquire the jewelstone of Will long before he even plotted the coup d'état, the stone of Strength was something he had acquired only recently. He tried going after the stone of lightning next, but Cloud had gotten his hands on it first, so his choice for the third stone had shifted to the stone of Fire, but once again, Naomi had managed to snag the stone before the emperor.

Until a few hours ago, no one had known what had caused the prince to murder his own parents for the throne he was bound to acquire once he came of ageanyways. But after Naomi had been stripped of her jewelstone by the emperor and Silver had dragged her bound form back to the dungeons, the silver-haired demoness had seen it fit to taunt the princess and let her in on the big secret.

Using the same principle as the tattoo in the legend of the evil witch Naba, the demoness had caused the prince's personality to twist and mutate until not even a sliver of Grayvon remained in that body. She never disclosed her reasons for doing so, but as Naomi was thrown back into her dungeon, the princess vowed to find a way to save her brother and destroy the bitch that had ruined everything in her life. If she ever managed to get out of the dungeon alive, that was. That problem had been solved half an hour ago when the clumsy idiot, Maddy, had shown up with another clumsy idiot, Princess Sakura, and to her infinite surprise, had somehow managed to not only free her, but also produce a rather durable weapon for her.

Growling in anger, Naomi took off after the demon that had just kicked her into the wall before taking off up the stairs towards the upper levels of the castle. Spitting out the blood that had collected in her mouth due to a hit she had taken earlier in the fight, Naomi wiped her mouth before chasing after the female demon. She wasn't going to let her get away this time.

Despite the passage of almost a decade, the castle was pretty much just as she remembered it from her childhood. But thanks to the ongoing fight, utter chaos met her eyes as she raced through the hallways, with the wounded, decapitated, or unconscious bodies of the soldiers littering her path to the throne room. She slowed her pace to a cautious creep as she heard the sounds of frenzied battle going on up ahead. Peeking around a stone column, she witnessed Bald and Red, the last two survivors of the once glorious Royal Guard, fighting off what appeared to be the members of the current emperor's Royal Guard. She was glad to see that they were faring well but despite her better judgment, she decided to join their fight to help even out the odds a little better. Red almost stumbled as she caught sight of the grey-eyed captain when she joined in the fray, but the enchantress caught herself before she could fall and blocked a sword thrust meant for her jugular. The blade grazed her cheek and a few locks of her blood-red hair fell to the ground as the sharp blade sliced through them.

"I'm impressed, Red." Naomi grinned cheekily as she flipped over her opponent and knocked him out with a hit to the base of his skull.

"The guards are too weak to fight. I wonder what the emperor was thinking when hechose _these_ men for his guard." She brushed off the complement, "I'm surprised he has managed to survive as long as he has."

"Yeah, these guys _are_ a bit pathetic." Naomi agreed as she looked over at Bald. The man had just finished pummeling his last opponent to the ground.

"We should go inside and help the others." The man suggested as he turned to the ex-princess. Before any of them could move, though, more men began pouring out of the hallways that led up to the throne room.

"We'll handle them," Red said calmly as she stepped in front of her commander, "you should go on ahead."

Nodding her thanks, Naomi fought her way through the charging men, thankful for Red's spells covering her back as she managed to enter the throne room. She spotted Kurogane and Fai fighting off a horde of soldiers along with Syaoran and Cloud, while Ian was the one who was trying to take on Mephistophele. Silver appeared in the middle of the room, but instead of turning to help Naomi's half-brother defeat the gray-eyed captain's second in command, she turned her attention on Syaoran, thrusting her sword at the boy's unprotected back. Thankfully, Cloud intercepted the blow just in time to save the boy from getting anything more than a graze on his side. Fai had managed to get his hands on a staff from somewhere and was using it to beat down his opponents left and right and Naomi had to say she was impressed with the way the blond fought. Kurogane had a rather feral grin on his face as he felled his opponents using nothing more than asingle stroke of his sword.

It was with relief that Naomi noticed that Mephistophele had yet to assimilate her jewelstone into his collection since she could see it dangling from the chain around his neck. If only she could somehow get her hands on it without him knowing until the last possible minute. She'd need a distraction of some sort, though. She only had one chance. If Mephistophele found out she was there, he'd be watching her like a hawk and she'd never be able to get it back. Sooner than she knew it, the distraction came in the form of a wild attack from Silver that sent magic spilling out in waves towards all directions.

-0-

Fai felt his body freeze as the magical storm erupted from the silver-haired demon. His eyes widened in shock at the raw energy that suddenly permeated every fiber of his being, making it impossible for him to breathe and as such, made him a sitting duck for his opponents. It was a surprise when Kurogane parried a sword thrust meant for him and managed to knock him out of his stupor. "Hyuu…" Putting on his stupid grin, Fai fake whistled. "Kurgy, you're my new hero."

"Shut it, you dumb mage." His red-eyed companion growled in annoyance, no doubt enraged by the mauling of his name, "Don't just stand there waiting to be killed."

"Aww…but where's the fun in that?" he laughed as he ducked under a punch meant for his head before twirling around his staff- which was in reality a spear with its head broken off.

"Che."The ninja scoffed as he turned his attention back to his opponents. Fai did likewise, unable to shake of the strange feeling of fear that had taken home in his gut as Silver launched another wild attack. This time, however, he was able to keep the feeling from paralyzing him as he was mentally prepared for it.

She must have been getting desperate if she was launching such exhaustive and dangerous attacks already. Maybe… the demon was injured and needed to make a getaway but could not thanks to Cloud and Syaoran. Ian was fighting against Mephistophele alone, but Fai couldn't help but smile, noticing that the odds against him would be evened out pretty soon. Naomi, the headstrong, grey-eyed captain, had somehow managed to free herself from her prison.

-0-

Syaoran tried not to let the feeling of despair overwhelm him as he fought against the white-haired demon. Whatever magic it was that she was using, it was affecting him badly, but as long as he made sure not to look into her blood-colored eyes, he was able to keep it at bay. He'd have to find some way to stop the demoness and soon. According to Mokona, Sakura's feather was in the possession of the emperor, Mephistophele. He had to get to that man before he got away with the feather. He needed to return Sakura's feather to her. It was hers and hers alone. No foul, black-hearted man should be using it for his personal gain. It was a beautiful memory of his loved one. He would not allow for it to be used for such selfish purposes.

Ducking under a sword swipe meant to behead him, Syaoran focused his attention back on his current opponent. To get back that precious feather, though, he'd have to take out this demon first.

-0-

Naomi yelled triumphantly as she managed to swipe the stone from around her brother's neck when the emperor was thrown in her direction by the force of the demoness's magic. As her half-brother flew through the air, she wrenched the chain free from around his neck before he could comprehend what was happening. Rolling with the force of the blow the burst of magic sent her way, Naomi quickly wrapped the chain around her free hand, clenching the stone in her closed fist as she hit the wall a few seconds after the emperor.

"I think it's time we end this, brother." Staggering to her feet a little unsteadily, she glared at the very man she had once looked up to. She saw his eyes narrow in hatred as a furious scowl settled on his lips.

"And end it we shall." he declared imperiously as he waved his hand in her direction and an invisible force flung her across the length of the throne room, sending her flying straight towards the spikes that decorated the wall behind the tall throne. Naomi twisted in midair, her mind furiously working to find a way out of getting impaled by five-foot-long spikes when a wall made entirely out of stone rose into the air before her, causing her to painfully crash into it with a thump. With a groan, she fell to the ground.

"Good of you to finally join us, Captain." Ian grinned at her as he lent her a hand and helped her to her feet. With his free hand he erected another wall of stone before them which he sent hurtling towards the emperor with a swift kick. Mephistophele made no attempts to get out of the way, only shifting his feet a little to adopt a firmer stance as he jutted out his left shoulder in their direction. The wall collided with the stationary man and shattered on impact, raising a cloud of dust that obscured him from sight for a while.

"Once we're done here," she hissed angrily at her second-in-command and long-time friend, "We are going to have a long discussion about the type of people we _don't _send for rescue missions."

"What rescue mission?" came the confused reply.

"What do you mean what rescue-" she broke off in mid-sentence as the cloud of dust settled to reveal the still-standing form of the emperor. "We'll discuss this later, Ian."

Mephistophele had chosen the order in which he went after the jewelstones wisely. He had been born to the king's first wife, who had coincidentally been the last descendant of the line of the guardians to the stone of Will. It was obvious as to why he picked that stone up first. The stone imparted telekinetic abilities to its guardian. It had probably been how he had managed to assassinate the former king. The stone of Strength had been his second choice, as it imparted just what its name implied. The third had been the stone of Fire, but obviously Naomi once again possessed that. A plan began forming in her mind as the information about the various stones and their wielders' weaknesses against other guardians flashed at the back of her mind.

"Hey, Ian?" she said to the teen standing beside her, "Remember the game we used to play when we lived here?"

"The one where we owned Grayvon's ass?" he replied with a cheeky grin.

"We're going to play that game now." She nodded, narrowing her eyes in concentration as she called forth the power of her stone. A raging fire flared up around her as she raced towards the emperor with a battle-cry. Right beside her, Ian sped towards the older man, riding a piece of earth that seemed to have been scooped out of the ground by a giant hand. A wave of flowing rocks followed right behind him.

-0-

Silver snarled, her human cover beginning to slip; to reveal her true form with skin as dark as the night, hair as white as snow and teeth sharp and jagged like a shark. If her human cover slipped completely, she'd be banished back to the dimension she had struggled so hard and long to escape from. She could not let that happen, but with the two attacking her the way they were… it was impossible for her to keep her violent magic in control. There was only one thing that she could do now.

Retreat.

Letting one last violent burst of her magic throw that accursed Lightening Guardian and that incomplete boy away from her, she laid out a spell that would take her away from that world to one where she could recuperate.

-0-

Syaoran picked himself off of the ground with a grunt, looking around for the demoness, but all that met his sight was the trailing end of her dress as she vanished inside a startlingly familiar rift. Those dark men wielding swords that carried the insignia of a bat… they appeared in the ruins ofClow through similar rifts. Was this woman, this demon, related to them? Was she responsible for sending them after Sakura?

"You okay, kid?" the man, Cloud, approached him, sword hanging loosely at his side as he visually assessed the damage the brunette had received.

"I'm fine. But the demon got away."

"I know." The blond grunted. Seemingly satisfied with the boy's condition, he gave him a short nod, "I doubt we'll see her again for a while, though." An uproarious crash drowned out his next words. Startled, they whirled around to witness the emperor locked in an epic battle with Naomi and Ian. Neither commented on how the captain had managed to free herself from her prison as they rushed forth to lend a helping hand. "You still need to find that feather, right?"

"Mokona says the emperor has it." Syaoran replied, rolling out of the way of a stray rock that was sent hurtling in his direction. The green-eyed blond flashed him a grin, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."

-0-

Telekinesis was a great power to have, Naomi admitted grudgingly when she was flung through the air for the dozen-th time. But while it was great while fighting against anything physical, it failed against things you could not touch. Ian was useless in that regard, since earth was quite touchable, but fire was on a whole other level. A bolt of lightning struck the ground where the emperor had been moments before, and she felt a grin form on her face. If fire was bad for a telekinetic, lightning was much, much worse.

Mephistophele snarled angrily as he whirled around, his charcoal eyes searching for this new pest. They narrowed almost to pinpricks as his face twisted in fury. Before the man had a chance to attack, though, he had to dodge an incoming flying kick from Syaoran. The emperor caught him in midair, glaring at him angrily. "Die, you worthless insect." Before anyone could move to or do something to help the teen, the emperor had flung the brunette through the air towards the spikes that had almost impaled Naomi only a short while back. Ian made to stop the helpless boy by erecting another wall but he somehow miscalculated and Naomi could only stare in horror as he disappeared behind the rising wall. The emperor cried in triumph, his narrowed eyes settling onto the frozen form of the grey-eyed princess.

Naomi waited for what felt like ages, her ears straining for the sound but thankfully the sickening squelch of flesh being ripped through by metal never came. Instead, she played witness to Kurogane hurling the emperor into the air with a series of well-placed kicks and punches. For a long time to come, she would puzzle over how the red-eyed warrior had managed to get so close to the emperor without the latter realizing he was there. Before her half-brother hit the ground, he was slammed into by a brown blur.

"I refuse to die until I have returned all of Sakura-hime's memories." Syaoran yelled as he landed in a crouch a little ways away from where he had sent the emperor crumbling. Her eyes flickered in the direction of the wall and noticed the grinning form of the blond magician standing on top of it, with his staff poised as though he had just launched something through the air with it. Which, she looked back at Syaoran as he stood back up, the magician probably had, or rather, someone. Knowing this was probably the chance she had been looking for, she nodded at Cloud once before sending a powerful blast of fire towards the fallen emperor at the same time the warrior launched a frightening bolt of lightning crashing into Mephistophele. The evil emperor did not rise again. Still on her guard, Naomi approached the man her brother had become and retrieved the assimilated stones before the unconscious tyrant began to stir.

With the stones in the young captain's possession, it was easy to subdue the emperor and bind him in makeshift shackles. Not long after his defeat, his followers surrendered, knowing they stood no chance of winning against the smaller band of powerful warriors if their fearsome leader had been defeated so easily. While Naomi organized the arrest of Mephistophele's followers, the group of dimensional travelers huddled together in a circle to discuss something important.

"Mokona, can you tell where the feather is?" Syaoran asked the white rabbit as it popped out of his clothes and climbed to his shoulder.

"Umm…It's strange but it feels like the feather is inside his body."

"Inside his body?" Kurogane raised a brow.

"It's like… It's like the magic is inside him." The dimension hopper struggled to elaborate.

"You mean it's sealed inside him?" Fai decided to offer.

"Yes."

"Then how do we get it from him?" Syaoran furrowed his brow as he looked towards the emperor that was glaring at the raven-haired Naomi.

"Well…the only way I know of to unseal a magical artifact- as powerful as Sakura-chan's feather- would be to kill the creature that it's sealed inside of. The soul escaping from the body serves to sever the bond formed between the artifact and the body itself."

"Can't you use magic to remove it?" Kurogane growled, noticing the way the magician's smile turned a little strained at hearing that. What was it with the stupid blond and his damned smiles? There was nothing in this situation that justified his being happy and yet… that idiot was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"I told you,Kuro-silly. I can't use my magic."

"Can't or won't?" Kurogane quirked a brow. "And it's _Kurogane_ you dumbass!"

"It's the same thing,Kurgy."

"It's alright, Fai-san." The brunette smiled gratefully, "I appreciate your help already. I'll try and see if Red-san knows a way to unseal it, perhaps."

"Okay."

"Naomi-san!"Syaoran called as he jogged up to the Captain. The teen turned to face him with a small, questioning smile, "Mokona says that Sakura-hime's feather is sealed inside the emperor's body. I was wondering if you could ask Red-san if she knows of some way to remove it from him?"

"She's out running a little errand for me right now," she replied, "but I'll ask her as soon as she-"

"Naomi! Watch out!" An enraged snarl drowned out Ian's warning as the emperor lunged at the Captain. The world froze as the sound of a sickening squelch filled the air, followed by a surprised yet choked gasp.

"Na-omi…"the emperor breathed out as he staggered a step away from the girl. The man touched the three-pronged fork sticking out of his chest, bringing bloodied fingers upto his eyes. The onyx color of his irises began to fade to a soft grey, the color resembling that of the cloudy sky before a storm. He looked past his bloodied fingers to stare at the princess.

"Grayvon,"Naomi whispered a name she had not uttered in years as she remained frozen in place. The emperor swayed drunkenly before lurching to the right. Syaoran wasn't sure why, but he somehow ended up catching the dying man before he hit the ground.

"Finally…learnt how to use a prong… eh, Na-omi?" he chuckled weakly as blood dribbled down his chin.

Breathlessly, she collapsed on her knees beside the older man.

"Tha-nks for setting… me free." He smiled feebly.

"Why?"she croaked hoarsely.

"There was no… other way… I wasn't strong en-ough to… fight the seal… the rest of my l-ife… I'd rather die… than hurt you again…" he coughed, more of his life source spilling past his lips. "I'm sorry for every-thing…"

"You were not supposed to die, damn it!" she hissed angrily. Even though she had found out about the magical seal that was engraved on his right shoulder by Silver only a few hours ago, Naomi had already been working on finding a way to free her half-brother. She had not been sure, but from what she had gathered, the seal used the feather as its source to suppress his personality to the extent that Grayvon was but a faint memory. It worked on a principle similar to the one that was employed by the lord of that distant land on the witch Naba from their legend. It was true that in the legend, Naba's true self had been beyond help, but surely if she had found some way to remove the power source for the seal, she could have… "Why did you… I could have found a cure for you. No. I _would_ have found a cure for you!"

"It's better this way… Trust me… A big brother has… to loo-k after his siblings… I fai-led at that… for so long… it's abo-ut time I… ful-filled my duty…" he murmured slowly as the light began to leave his eyes.

"No… you can't die." she snarled, "Dying is not part of how you take care of me! After everything else you've put me through, you can't just die, you bastard!"

"I'm so sorry, Naomi…"

A soft glow enveloped his whole body as it began to rise from the floor, his head lolling lifelessly about his shoulders. The glow materialized into a fluffy white feather with red markings on its surface that flew away from his chest and hovered a foot above his body as it was lowered to the ground by the same invisible force that had picked it up. Naomi's eyes were entranced by the soft glow as the feather began to drift away from the emperor towards the doors of the throne room. It sank into the chest of a horrified Sakura, who slumped to the ground in an unmoving heap. Syaoran scrambled to his feet, racing towards the girl that had probably witnessed the emperor's final moments. Behind her stood the wide-eyed pair of Madiha and Xahra, both clearly shocked at the way things had turned out.

When Syaoran had approached her to find out the whereabouts of Red, Naomi had been busy scolding Ian and Cloud over their poor decision of bringing Madiha and Sakura along for the rescue. After discovering that neither her second-in-command nor the Guardian of Lightning had any idea about the girls coming along, she had sent Red to retrieve them from the carriage outside the castle. Despite herself, Naomi had been somewhat impressed to find that the clumsy duo had actually snuck into the castle and orchestrated the entire rescue without anyone else's help. Of course, it had all worked out due to sheer dumb luck, but they had been part of the reason why the rest of the gang had managed to win the fight. She had been fully prepared to rant at the girls for their act of stupidity when they had arrived, but now she merely turned away from their horrified gazes.

Reaching out with her right hand, she slid Grayvon's unseeing eyes closed before gracefully climbing to her feet. "Ian, send word to Citadel. The emperor has fallen." Receiving a nod in response to her command, she strode out of the throne room. No one dared to comment on the twin trails of wetness that rolled down her cheeks as she left.

-0-

Once again, it was nighttime. The pale silver shield that domed over the cottage shimmered softly in the wind. It was dark outside, only a few stars twinkling in the velvety blackness as the moon hid behind a cloud. The musky scent of wet earth heralded the oncoming rain.

_A big brother has… to loo-k after his siblings… I fai-led at that… for so long… it's abo-ut time I… ful-filled my duty…_

Despite the humidity that hung in the air, Kurogane found a sudden chill race down his spine as he recalled the emperor's dying words. He had been so sure he had buried those memories in the deepest recesses of his mind when he was but a child. Something about the way that man had spoken those words, though… they had caused those memories and the hurt and angry feelings he had buried along with them to claw their way back up to the surface. He tensed slightly, noticing that he was not alone anymore. Before he could question his companion, however, he was questioned himself.

"Did you lose someone?" Fai asked quietly as he sidled up to the brooding ninja. "The emperor's words affected you a lot more than I thought they would, considering how your profession involves killing people all the time."

"I kill those bastards to protect Tomoyo-hime." He grunted in response, "Although, I could say the same for you, Mage." He said, eyeing the man out of the corner of his eye, noticing the way the blond slightly tensed at his words. "Your face lost all color when he died."

"Ahahaha..."Kurogane took note of how his laugh sounded a bit too forced, "actually,Kurgy-poo," he ignored the mangling of his name in favor of observing the talkative yet reticent mage more closely. The blond was grinning widely, yet the plastic smile stretching across his face reminded him more and more of a twisted mask created for the intent of hiding the wearer's true self from the world forever. He distantly wondered what exactly it was that the magician was hiding behind that mask, "I've never been very fond of people dying. What happened today just dredged up some bad memories that I don't really want to talk about." Kurogane did not miss the slightly dangerous glint in the blonde's guarded eyes as he met his gaze.

"What makes you think I want to talk about why it affected me?" He quirked a brow in challenge as he pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against.

A sudden panicked expression flashed across the shorter man's blue eyes for a fraction of a second. It was gone before the ninja could call him on it, shuttered behind an impenetrable wall of blank cerulean. "Everyone is almost finished with packing." Fai announced as he turned his back to the warrior,"we'll be leaving in half an hour's time. I'd say you should go get your picture books lest we accidentally leave them behind,Kurgs." Without waiting for a reply, he vanished back inside the building, leaving the red-eyed man to contemplate on what had just happened.

His heart thundered against his ribcage as he mentally cursed himself in all twenty languages he knew. Flashing a cheery grin at the now-awake princess, he presented the jade-eyed girl and her amber-eyed companion the excuse of checking his room one last time to ensure he had not left anything behind. He left the living room, knowing that the other two girls were in their shared room with the white dimension hopper. Not bothering to turn the lights on in his temporary bedroom, the magician entered, sliding his hand against the small panel that solidified the shimmering shield that served as the door panel to have some privacy. What in the world had made him go upto that man like that? The kids were oblivious to the act he put up for the world to see. Given enough time, the boy might make _something_out of it all, but the princess was no threat. Of his remaining companions, the magical dimension hopper was something that was no doubt able to sense the feelings of those around it, thanks to the magic that was used in its creation. But he doubted it would ever actually reveal what he felt to anyone. Such a show of trust was rare for Fai, but the childlike personality of the magical being made him want to believe that it would do no such thing. The lavender-eyed girl, Xahra, was just like the princess. She was there, yet not exactly there at the same time. He doubted she would ever be something of a hazard for him. Her best-friend, Madiha, was someone he felt he needed to be slightly wary of. She had secrets, but she still wore her heart on her sleeve. She bought his act like the kids and Xahra, but just like Syaoran, given enough time, she might be able to see past his mask. Though those two caused him a slight amount of worry, it all paled next to the dread he felt whenever in the presence of their last companion. The man with the eyes of a bloodthirsty demon… Every time the ninja looked his way, Fai could almost feel the way that man could see past the twisted mask that made a mockery of the advice the blond had once received by someone he held dear. Out of all six, the red-eyed warrior was the only one that truly scared him. That man would never be fooled by the likes of him, and he was someone that would never hesitate to call the blond out on his deception.

Breathing hard, the magician leaned against the wall of his darkened room.

"_What makes you think I want to talk about why it affected me?"_

So stupid. He had been _so_ stupid. Why did he have to pry into that man's secrets? If he discovered what the warrior did not want to reveal, Fai had no doubt the man would demand he reveal something in return. Lying to him was not an option, and telling him the truth…that was an impossibility. Just what the heck had been thinking? Had he been so rattled by the emperor's dying words that he had lost all semblance of sensibility? Or was he… dare he think it? Hoping to find a kindred soul in that man? Despite knowing that getting close to any of his travelling companions would lead to nothing but misfortune…

"Honestly speaking, Kurogane..." he murmured, staring outside the window, "I have no idea..."

_**A/N: And so it finally ends. Next up is Fog world though it's gonna be more of an omake which means it'll be somewhat different from how everything went in the manga. But! Lucky for everyone, its only one chapter long. After that, is Jade. :D I'm actually pretty excited about Jade though since I've actually somehow managed to make it quite different from how the story goes in the Manga while still keeping some of the major elements in place yet, hopefully not making it a clichéd rewrite of the manga. xD'**_

_**As I'm sure you have all noticed btw, this story is gonna be darker than the Manga and the anime (though I'm gonna be loosely following the Manga storyline.) As evident from this chapter, there **_**will**_** be characters deaths and not all of them will be OCs. Despite all the magic and mystery and whatnot, I'm actually trying to bring everything closer to real life (not sure if this will make sense or not right now). In real life, no one comes out unscathed from fights so there will be a possibility of gruesome injuries throughout the story. Here's a bit of a teaser/preview of what I have in store for you in the next chapter.**_

_Xahra's grip on Madiha's hand tightened as the amber-eyed girl caught a glimpse of her companions for the first time. Wide-eyed and in a daze, she followed after her friend as she pulled her along the rest of the group towards the exit._

"_Madiha?" Xahra snapped her fingers before her face one the gang stood outside the cave that seemed more like a small hole in the ground than anything else. "Oye, Maddy! Snap out of it."_

"_Y-you're… Y-you're a guy!" Madiha whimpered weakly. _

"_And so are you. Now get a grip."_


	17. Fog: Tell me this isn't so

_**A/N: I figured since it's my birthday today, I'd treat you guys to an early update. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

"Oww… what truck ran over me this time?" Maddy groaned as she struggled to sit up. Something on her right arm clinked as she pushed her body upright and the arm collided with Kurogane's armor. At least she thought it was Kurogane's armor. It was too dark to actually see anything around her. Something wet and slimy slithered across her leg. A disgusted shiver crawled up her spine as she let out a scream. A very rough, gravelly scream.

"Who the fucking hell is screaming so damn loud?" an angry voice yelled and from the words alone, Maddy guessed it to be Kurogane, only thing was… it was a woman's voice that spoke.

"Maddy, please tell me you don't have a sore throat. I hate taking care of you when you develop a fever." Blinking hard, Madiha slapped herself on her left cheek. Was it possible that jumping worlds could mess with one's hearing? Because despite the fact that she it was Xahra that had said that, it sounded like a man had spoken them. "Wait… why does my voice sound so funny?"

"Why the fuck do you two sound like men?" Kurogane growled, and Madiha pinched herself in the arm. "And why the fuck do I sound like a damn woman?"

"Oh my," a soft, voice piped up suddenly, "seems like we're all stuck in a bit of a predicament."

"Someone please tell me I hit my head on a rock when we landed and I'm having auditory hallucinations." Madiha pleaded desperately feeling unnerved by the sound of her manly voice.

"Maddy-san? Kurogane-san? Xahra-san? Fai-san… is that you?" the voice that spoke was hesitant, somewhat childlike but definitely male.

"Syaoran-kun, is that you?" God, why the heck did Fai sound so sexy as a woman? Immediately, Madiha slapped herself once more. She did _not_ just think that.

"I think that was Sakura-hime." The voice that responded was sweet and melodic, but immediately, Madiha could tell it wasn't Sleeping Beauty. Something was clearly, very wrong here.

"Mage…" Madiha made to slap herself once again when she felt blood rush to her face at the sound of the warrior's feminine voice. That growl sounded just as sexy as Fai's lilting voice. A big hand grabbed her wrist and halted the motion before she could hurt herself. "The only thing you'll do by hitting yourself again is bruise your face." Madiha turned her head in the direction of the voice, her eyes having somewhat adjusted to the dark enough to let her see the vague outline of her friend. Or who she thought was Xahra.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming." She whimpered helplessly just as Kurogane yelled. "Get the hell off of me!"

"Guys," Xahra spoke, "I think we should look for a way out of this dark place instead of fighting. If we keep talking in the dark, Maddy might just give herself a concussion from hitting herself like the idiot she is."

The brunette in question remained silent as the others agreed and began looking around for some source of light. A strange burst of light lit up the place they were in for half a minute, letting the group of travelers know that they were actually in a cave. It also illuminated a small shaft to their right that surprisingly enough remained lit by the bright light even when the rest of the cave darkened. Xahra's grip on Madiha's hand tightened as the amber-eyed girl caught a glimpse of her companions for the first time. Wide-eyed and in a daze, she followed after her friend as she pulled her along the rest of the group towards the exit.

"Madiha?" Xahra snapped her fingers before her face one the gang stood outside the cave that seemed more like a small hole in the ground than anything else. "Oye, Maddy! Snap out of it."

"Y-you're… Y-you're a guy!" Madiha whimpered weakly.

"And so are you. Now get a grip."

"Get a grip? Get a grip?" she shrieked in a very manly voice. "How the heck do you expect me get a grip? Why the hell are you not freaking out? We all just got a freaking sex-change operation without even knowing about it and you're asking me to get a grip? Why did I let you talk me into playing that stupid game with you? No wait… Why did I let my mother talk me into staying at your place? Better yet… why the heck did I even become friends with you?"

"She'll be fine." Xahra smiled at her other companions, ignoring her ranting friend in the background, "if she starts questioning why she became friends with me, it means there is no lasting damage." She told the others as she turned her attention towards observing her companions' appearances. They were all still dressed in the clothes they had worn when leaving the previous world. In some cases not a lot had changed but in others, quite a lot had changed, making their unique clothing the only sure way to identify who the person was. Of course, their hair colors was another give away but… the sight of a slightly gangly, auburn-haired teenage boy with brilliant jade eyes, who would be considered rather cute by a lot of girls, dressed in Sakura's pink dress was rather disturbing. Syaoran was almost half a head shorter than, Sakura, shoulder length brown hair framing his face messily. Despite him being the same age, he seemed slightly more endowed than the princess when she was a girl. Fai as a girl was another thing that disturbed her somewhat. The blond was still the same height as before and just as thin but now he had the curves that would make men drool with just a glance. His hair was long enough to make her feel somewhat jealous; it reached well past his knees! With his pointed chin, pale skin and startling blue eyes, he was every guy's dream girl. Slightly disturbed with that train of thought, Xahra turned her attention towards Kurogane, feeling her jaw drop to the ground.

"Oh shit." She cursed absently, her hand tugging on her friend's sleeve, "Maddy… Please, tell me I'm dreaming."

"I'm still not finished cursing you to hell and back yet." Maddy snapped irritatedly.

"Curse me later." she replied, tugging at Madiha's shirt sleeve rather insistently, "Look at Kurogane and tell me I'm dreaming."

"Okay. You're dream-… Holy shit! He's like… your clone!"

Clone was a bit of an exaggeration but the resemblance he had to Xahra was uncanny. There were slight differences of course, like him having red-eyes instead of lavender, a slightly broader jaw than Xahra's, thicker eye-brows. His hair was the same length as the lavender-eyed girl but while Xahra's hair was completely straight, Kurogane's hair was somewhat spikier at the top but ended in soft curls where ended just past her waist. It seemed to suit him somehow. His body had shrunken to Fai's height and his broad shoulders had somehow slimmed down. His figure was well toned beneath the armor though it was quite clear that the tight armor was rather uncomfortable for the warrior's new body.

"And crap…" Madiha swore as she finally took a good look at her friend, "you look just like _his_ clone!" Xahra's shoulders had broadened to the same proportions as Kurogane, her hair had grown short enough to be considered a boy cut, the black locks falling limply about her head unlike the way Kurogane's stood up on their ends. Her eyes were lavender but from the square jaw to the wide brow, to the small frown lines on her forehead, she looked like a mirror image of the warrior with just a few minor differences. "Great," She grumbled, "my best-friend turned into the replica of a blood-thirsty demon." Said bloodthirsty demon to quirked a brow in an irritated manner.

"Watch it," Kurogane growled and Madiha struggled to keep down her blush at the sound of his… er rather attractive voice. Damn the stupid testosterone now dancing the conga in her bloodstream, "I might have been against hitting women unless they're armed but I've got no problems with hitting men."

"Now now Kurgy, calm down." Fai cut-in in that typical cheerful voice of his and Maddy helplessly tugged at her now short but still curly hair. She had no doubt that like everyone else, she too had changed appearance wise, though she was curious as to what she looked like now. If the coarse stubble on her face anything to go by, she must have looked like she needed a shave, "I think we should be trying to find Sakura-chan's feather so we can leave this world faster."

"So it _is_ the world that caused us to change like this…" Syaoran piped up all of a sudden, blushing and looking down when his voice came out sounding like a girl-scout selling cookies.

"Yes," Fai smiled and for the first time ever since Madiha had had the misfortune of meeting the blond, she found herself attracted to the blue-eyed idiot. Why had she never noticed the small dimple that formed whenever he smiled like that? Or the way those twin, endless pairs of blue seemed to sparkle with mirth when he found something to be truly amusing.

_Mekyo!_

Knowing that others would start questioning her sanity if she were to start slapping herself out of the blue, even if it was just to rid herself of such scary thoughts, she settled for biting the inside of her cheek to remind herself that this was _Fai_ she was thinking about.

"The source of magic in this world is close." The dimension hopped seemed to be the only one not affected by the sudden sex-change as its voice sounded the same as before. But then again. Mokona _was_ Mokona. It was probably immune to whatever had affected everyone else.

"Where is it Mokona?" Syaoran asked the dimension hopper as it landed on his shoulder.

"That way." The white creature declared pointing towards their left. Through the small gaps in the trees, the group could see various tents erected in a clearing a little ways away.

"A Fair?" Sakura cocked her head to one side.

"Seems like it." Kurogane answered. "Let go get the stupid feather so we can leave already."

"One little problem Kuro-hime." The red-eyed man's brow twitched in irritation at blonde's new nickname for him, "We can't go there dressed like this."

"And why the hell not?"

"_Because Kurogane is now a woman." _The voice that answered belonged to Kurogane, though it belonged to Kurogane when he was a guy.

"…the hell." The now female warrior swore, looking around for the source of his voice.

"_And now Kurogane can wear nice pink girly clothes. Because Kurogane secretly loves wearing women's clothes."_

"Wow Blackie," Madiha smirked, "I had no idea you were a closet-crossdresser."

"Crossdresser my ass," the warrior growled, "Manju bun, you are dead!"

"Waaaahhh…" the white dimension hopper cried, jumping into Fai's fluffy coat for protection, "Fai, please protect Mokona."

"I had no idea Mokona could mimic voices." Xahra commented as she watched the ninja try to get his very feminine hands on the dimension hopper.

"It's one of Mokona's secret 108 techniques." Said dimension hopper popped out of the sleeve of Fai's jacket.

"What are the other 107?" Sakura asked curiously, cocking her head to the right with a cute, puzzled expression on her boyish face.

"That's a secret." The creature replied with a wink, ducking back into Fai's jacket when Kurogane made another lung for him.

"What do you suggest we do about the clothes Fai-san?" Syaoran asked softly, pink lightly dusting his cheeks as he stole a glance at Sakura.

"Well… seeing as we don't have any money to buy new clothes," Fai grinned easily, "we could just exchange what we're wearing right now."

"What?"

-0-

"_Kurogane looks so pretty dressed as a girl."_

"Shut it Manju." The ninja growled as he/she pulled at the collar of the shirt he had ended up borrowing from Xahra. Madiha, much to her displeasure, ended up lending her clothes to Fai, who despite his wide grin looked just as uncomfortable as Kurogane while wearing women's clothes. Poor Syaoran was no better off, blushing profusely in the pink dress that had been previously worn by the princess.

Xahra looked quite ill at ease thanks to the armor plates covering her torso which Kurogane had insisted she wear in exchange for him wearing the dreaded thing that was currently digging into his chest every time he drew a breath. He pulled at the strap again, muttering curses under his breath, wondering why the hell had he not just chopped the damned torture device to tiny pieces when he had had the chance? He had needed the actual girl's help to put the stupid thing on. He was curious about why the Mage had had no problems whatsoever when it came to dressing though. Heck, even the kid had put on his clothes without any trouble at all.

"How can you stand wearing this armor all the time?" Xahra whined as she trailed up behind the warrior, "It's so heavy… and hot… and uncomfortable."

"I'd say the same for what you made me wear." He grumbled crossly, once again tugging at the strap, "They don't even _fit_ in that thing!"

Madiha burst out laughing, nearly falling on Fai as she doubled over in mirth. Xahra and Fai joined in, greatly amused by the annoyed expression on the ninja's face as the man glared at his feminine assets. Sakura and Syaoran were the only ones that looked away, their faces resembling tomatoes.

"What I don't get Kuro-poo," Fai chuckled as he straightened, and flashed a mischievous smirk in his direction, "is why you had so much trouble putting on a bra when you've been secretly dressing up as a woman all this time?"

"Who the heck said I dress up as a woman?" the warrior exploded, the shrill tone of his voice ruining the scary effect he had been aiming for, causing his companions to burst into fresh bouts of laughter.

"Why you did yourself, only a short while ago." Xahra piped up, grinning rather evilly at the dark-haired warrior, "Do you have a memory problem, Kurgy?"

"My name is Kurogane, damn it! .!" he snarled, "Get it right or I'll tear you to pieces. And what surprises me," he continued in a slightly calmer tone, addressing the blue-eyed blond, "is why you had no problem at all. Something we all should know about, Mage?"

"Well…" Fai replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "I _was_ the most eligible bachelor back in my home-world. You learn about these things after a while."

Shaking his head to rid himself of the disturbing images his mind had conjured, the warrior looked away. "I don't think I want to know what you mean by that mage."

"You can relax Kurgy," Fai laughed, "I'm not going to spoil your innocent mind by regaling tales of my various escapades. Well… actually there was this one time when the daughter of a visiting delegator took quite an interest in me and she-"

"I don't think we need to know those details, Blondie." Madiha growled abruptly.

"Relax Maddy-chan," Fai chuckled in amusement, "I've only actually had one girlfriend. Just because I was eligible doesn't automatically make me a playboy."

"I didn't want you scarring the poor kids for life." She grumbled, gesturing towards Syaoran and Sakura.

"As interesting as all this talk is about Fai's and Kurogane's love lives…" Xahra interrupted before either Fai or Kurogane could speak, "does anyone have any idea about why we got changed like this?"

"Yuuko mentioned about a festival like this to Mokona once." The dimension hopper once again made its presence known.

"Eh?"

"There is a world where the people celebrate a festival to honor their deity of fertility." The white creature spoke, "the area around the temple for the deity becomes imbued with magic near the beginning of spring. Anyone that steps within its boundaries during this time changes into the opposite sex."

"Please tell me it isn't permanent." Maddy pleaded.

"Well… it kind of is." Mokona replied with a sheepish expression on its face.

"What?" Kurogane, Madiha and Xahra all cried simultaneously.

"Yup," The dimension hopper nodded solemnly. "It's permanent."

"B-but…" Madiha whimpered, her hands clutching at her best-friend's arm, "I don't want to be a walking talking mess of testosterone for the rest of my life!" She cried.

"Maddy did not let Mokona finish." Mokona chirped after a while. "The men are turned into women to remind them of what it is like to be a girl and women become men as a break. But since people are known to stray into the temple unknowingly, the deity's magic only lasts until the end of the festival."

Madiha lost her footing and fell to the ground in an unceremonious heap. "What?"

"Ahaha… Maddy was scared to death." The creature chirped happily, "how do you like another one of Mokona's super special skill? Super acting abilities."

"You mean we will change back to normal?" Syaoran asked hopefully.

"Of course. Everyone will go back to themselves when we find the feather and leave this world."

Madiha's angry threats of a painful end for the tricky magical creature died on her lips when Sakura collapsed in a dead faint.

"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran cried out in alarm, catching her before she hit her head on a rock. Head injury on top of amnesia could turn out to be a very bad thing. The boy that now had the body of a petite girl, struggled to lift the princess's gangly form, failing miserable when he collapsed under her weight.

"Here," Xahra said as she crouched next the boy, "Let me help." Effortlessly, she picked up Sakura's unconscious form and slung it over her shoulder. "I think strength is the only good thing that came with this changing of genders."

Syaoran looked away with a small nod, as his fists clenched by his side. The boy no doubt felt useless about being too weak to even carry his beloved princess, forgetting about the whole deal with the changing sex.

"This might happen a lot," Fai commented softly, "Sakura-chan collapsing like that. Considering that she is still weak from not having enough memories, she might faint all the time. The next time it happens… we can be in the midst of a dangerous battle as what happened with Naomi-chan." He said, referring to the circumstances under which they had met with the grey-eyed captain, "but… We'll be here to help you Syaoran-kun. All of us. Even Kuro-grumpy over there."

"My name," the female warrior growled dangerously, "is Kurogane."

"You shouldn't worry so much Syaoran." Xahra added with a smile, "We'll help you in whatever way we can."

"It won't hurt you to smile every now then." Madiha piped up, "in fact, I bet Sleeping Beauty loves it when you smile. You _are _a rather cute kid. Have you _seen_ the way she blushes around you sometimes?"

"You shouldn't be afraid to smile when you feel happy, Syaoran-kun." Fai said as he rested a slender hand on the boy's shoulder. "People will feel happy for you too."

"Damn, you've got a cute smile as a girl too." Maddy whistled with a wink, causing the boy's face to redden even further. Any more blood to the face and the boy was sure to faint from a burst vessel.

"Shouldn't we head to the stupid fair and look for the feather now?" Kurogane pointed out with an irritated huff. "The sooner I can get out of these clothes the better."

-0-

It was rather funny to see Kurogane's face change color so fast every time a guy walked up to him and asked him for a date. The man turned woman would only glower at the poor souls until the boys would run away with their tails between their legs. They caught him muttering about a curse and being unable to kill without growing week, inserting some choice swearwords for his sovereign at random intervals. Maddy was approached a couple of times by a blushing girl who would ask to show her around. Xahra, however, was saved the mortification thanks to the unconscious sack of potatoes-ahem- the unconscious princess in her arms. Fai was a bit more subtle about the way he turned down potential suitors though after he sent the fifth man on his merry way, he decided it would be a great idea to attach himself to Madiha's arm, seeing as how Xahra was occupied with carrying the princess. After that, the influx of offers for dates were only directed towards Kurogane though there were a couple of times a few of the younger boys would walk upto Syaoran and ask to show him around. The whole situation became hilarious when one bold daredevil decided it would be a good idea to turn into a persistent pest and keep on asking for Kurogane to come with him.

Madiha watched wide-eyed as the ninja flashed the man a cold smile before stepping so close to him their noses almost touched.

"You should have run when I said no." he growled before punching the poor pest's lights out.

Seeing as this display took place in central square of the Fair, their group was left alone after that incident.

"Had I known it'd get that leech off of my arm earlier," Madiha grumbled as she sidled up next to Kurogane, "I would have asked you to punch a guy sooner."

"Your words wound me Maddy-chan," Fai cried in fake sorrow.

"You'll get over it." she replied nonchalantly. About an hour of aimless wandering, they heard the first whispers about a mysterious source of light that lit up the lake next to the deity's temple like a thousand suns at night.

"Think it could be Sakura-chan's feather?" Fai asked the rabbit perched on his shoulder.

"Mokona can't be sure," the creature frowned in concentration, "but the magical energy is the strongest inside the lake."

"Then to the lake it is." Xahra declared, marching off behind the ninja that had already started making his way towards the temple.

Just as Sakura came to for a brief moment, Syaoran jumped dived into the lake, the light of the setting sun over the treetops, reflecting against the water's surface, making it seem like it was set on fire. Crying out the boy's name as he disappeared under the waves, she collapsed again. He broke the surface of the water every few minutes before diving under again, searching relentlessly for her feather. A crowd began to gather on the shore across from them, no doubt there to witness the brilliant lightshow in the lake. Half an hour after the sun had completely set, a powerful glow lit up the whole lake from within causing Mokona to go 'Mekyo' once more. The glow moved about the lake, making the group gathered at the shore wonder what was taking the brunette so long. Just as Madiha decided to go after the boy, his head broke the surface of the water, a soft glow coming from an object that was tucked under his arm. Not caring that she might end up wetting her clothes, Madiha waddled into the water to help the boy out, taking the object from under his arm. It appeared to be a large disc of sorts, emitting the soft golden glow, it felt rather warm against her skin, despite the fact that the water itself was almost freezing. Picking up Fai's fur -lined coat from where she had abandoned it on the shore next to the princess, she draped it across the shivering boy's shoulders.

"Did you find it?" Fai asked as Madiha set the disc on the ground while Xahra urged the boy closer to the small fire they had started a while back.

"There is a small city down there." He declared, eyes shining in excitement as he gestured towards the lake.

"Mokona can't sense any other source of magic in the lake."

"Wait… does this mean there is no feather in this world?"

"Mokona can sense strong magical objects. This scale is part of the object that brought Mokona here."

"So then we got turned into guys for nothing?" Madiha grumbled.

"Seems like it." Fai shrugged as Sakura began to stir.

"Syaoran-kun! He's still in the lake!" with those words, she began to race towards the water, though Syaoran caught hold of her lanky arms in his thin fingered hands.

"I'm right here, Hime." Syaoran smiled softly, turning her around to face him. His clothes had nearly dried off though he still shivered slightly in the night wind.

"I was worried for you." she admitted shyly.

"Thank you for worrying," He smiled a shy smile, causing the princess to blush brightly.

"See." Maddy declared triumphantly, "What did I tell you Syaoran?" her words caused an identical blush to appear on the boy's cheeks.

"Aww… Those two are so adorable." Xahra cooed happily.

"Can we just get changed and leave?" Kurogane grumbled in irritation.

"My, my. _Someone_ sure is excited to leave this world behind."

"Shut it Mage."

-0-

_The Sakura petals swirled in circles in the soft breeze, the translucent blackish green ground and sky shimmering softly as the air rippled like the waves forming on the surface of a pond when a stone is dropped in the middle. The sky began to bulge inwards not far from the rippling air, twisting and enlarging until it nearly hit the ground. A wrinkled, blackened hand with an old ring with a cracked stone set in the middle, emerged from the rippling air at the same time as the bulging sky began to swell outwards. The bubble in space and time burst open to reveal the tall form of a pale skinned man with dark, shoulder length hair. A soft smile graced his lips as he opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the rippling space, through which an old man with twinkling blue eyes and long snow white hair stepped through. The younger man was dressed in warm winter clothing, the velvet robes he wore, lined with expensive fur however the older man was dressed in midnight blue robes that appeared rather plain next to his younger companion. _

"_Hello again dear friend," the older man spoke with a smile, his twinkling blue eyes taking in the pale form from behind a pair of gold-framed half moon spectacles that rested on his rather crooked nose._

"_Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice." The younger man replied with a grateful smile._

"_It was no trouble at all."_

"_Still… Thank you."_

"_We could keep on going on about this forever, Ashura," the man laughed, "but I believe there is a reason why you wished to see me."_

"_There is." Ashura nodded, his brown eyes flashing gold for a fraction of a second causing him to flinch and stumble, "I have a favor to ask, Albus."_

"_It's worsening, isn't it?" Albus frowned._

"_I don't have much time left."_

"_How long?" he asked gravely._

"_Not more than a fortnight." Ashura admitted. "I tried wishing but… the price is far too high."_

"_And what of the alternative?" Albus asked softly._

"_I have set things in motion." Ashura replied quietly as he looked away, "But I have no doubt my actions will hurt him far too deeply."_

"_From what I have seen of your prodigy," the older man said in a soothing manner, "the boy is very strong."_

"_He is." The younger of the two nodded, "But he is quite fragile at the same time. This twisting of his fate for the second time… I'm afraid he will shatter like glass under the strain I am about to put on him."_

"_It will no doubt be hard on the boy…" Albus agreed, "But have faith in him. He might just surprise you."_

"_Those new additions have made the future highly unpredictable." Ashura sighed, "There are so many possibilities... I have tried my best to direct it towards a path that is the least painful for all involved but I'm afraid there is no way to change what is Hitsuzen… A death is unavoidable."_

"_I see." The older man nodded, his blue eyes staring distantly into space. _

"_The strings of their fates have been tangled together. The actions of one will affect all others. Which is why I need to ask you for a favor." Ashura added._

"_What is it my friend?"_

"_Though the future changes with every little decision they make, some events are set in stone," Ashura sighed, "a time will come when they will need shelter and some resources only you can provide them with."_

"_Though I don't have a lot of time left myself," Albus admitted, showing the dark-haired man his blackened hand, "rest assured that I will make sure that when the time comes, they will have all that they need."_

"_Thank you, Albus." Ashura let another small smile grace his lips, though this smile, unlike all others, lit up his entire face._

"_You are welcome, Ashura," Albus nodded, "Fawkes sends his greetings for you and your prodigy."_

"_Fai misses him as well."_

_**A/N: Review if you know what world apart from FMA is going to be crossed over in this fic. Review you had a laugh at the thought of Kurogane in a bra. Review if you… uh just leave a review if you enjoyed reading this chapter, will you? I haven't been getting many responses from you guys for this story and even though it's actually fun to write, I'm not really sure how many of you are actually enjoying it. **_

_**Also lemme know what length do you think would be appropriate for the chapters, the longer it is, the shorter the arcs and vice versa. I'm trying to include more of the original TRC gang's POVs into the story since not everyone enjoys reading from an OC's POV.**_


	18. Jade: Cumbersome Corsets

_**A/N: Final exams are over and weekend is here and I have two weeks worth vacations~ yay for me, even though I'm gonna have to get off my lazy butt and start working on my final year project in a couple of days. Not tomorrow since I'm going to visit my brother tomorrow so I'm really excited about that. But anywho, I can ramble on and on and on for hours but you guys would rather read the update, no? The gang has landed in a new world, and they're back to being themselves. What new adventures await them in this world?**_

_**Read on to find out.**_

_**Enjoy~**_

"Crap! It's freezing." Madiha swore the minute she became aware of her surroundings.

"Correction, Maddy," Xahra chattered in a disturbingly cheerful voice, "It's snowing."

"Snowing or not, it's freezing all the same." She retorted, sneezing violently as the cold wind whipped their light summer clothes about their bodies.

"We need to find a shelter soon." Syaoran added worriedly, casting a glance at Sakura. Despite knowing that it wasn't warm enough, he quickly took off his cloak and draped it around the shivering princess's shoulders. A painful twinge tugged at his heart at the thankful smile she directed at him. He knew if given the choice, he'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, but it still hurt to know that the smiles she gave him now were nothing like the smiles she gave him before this all started. Sure, there was no denying that it lit up her whole face when she smiled, but…the smiles she used to give him before she lost her memories, they were special. The princess was a kind soul, just as sweet on the outside as she was on the inside. Kindness was a part of who she was. But the kind smile she gave him whenever he did something for her, it was the sort of smile she gave the people she hardly knew. It was the sort of smile she gave to strangers. It was…nothing like the smile that made his heart soar, knowing that he mattered to her. Of course, if something were to happen to him, she would be saddened. After all, she cared too much about people for her own good. But that sadness was something she would have felt for any other person as well. He returned her smile with one of his own, hastily looking away to avoid letting her see the pain that, judging from the pitying looks some of his companions shot his way, must have no doubt shown in his eyes.

The witch of dimensions had demanded his relationship with the princess as a price for Mokona. Nothing mattered to him more than the girl that made him feel like a human for the first time all those years ago, so without a thought, he had agreed. He had known it would be painful. He had known it would be difficult. He just hadn't realized…that a piece of his heart would be ripped out of his chest with every simple smile she gave him. That a gaping hole would be bored through him with every gaze she directed at him. He knew… He knew he would be nothing more than a stranger to her at worst, just a fellow travelling companion and a good friend at best. He knew it when he made the decision to pay that price, but… he had probably underestimated how much it would hurt to be seen as a stranger by her after having spent his entire childhood with her as one of her closest friends.

"There's a building up ahead." Kurogane grunted as he squinted through the endless flurry of blinding white. And sure enough, if he looked hard enough, Syaoran could make out the dark shape of a tall structure looming in the distance.

"Let's go ask for shelter," Xahra suggested as she broke out into a slight jog. Eager to get out of the cold, the others sped up as well. Fai must have noticed how much Sakura was shivering despite having borrowed Syaoran's cloak, because he snuggled the princess up in his fluffy, over-sized coat. Their feet sank almost a foot into the snow with each step they took, the freezing wind and snow attacking them from all sides not helping matters in the least. It came as little surprise to the rest of the group when the clumsiest of them all fell down, face first, with a startled yelp.

"Are you alright, Maddy-san?" Sakura crouched next to the fallen girl.

Spitting snow from her mouth, Madiha pushed herself into a sitting position.

"I'm fine."She answered as she climbed to her feet, crumbling into the snow with a pained cry only a second later.

"Honestly, with the way you abuse your feet every week," Xahra sighed as she turned back and approached her friend, slinging one of Maddy's arms across her shoulder after helping her up, "I'm surprised you can walk at all, Maddy."

"Just walk."The brunette grumbled, causing Xahra to laugh good-naturedly as she complied with her friend's order. They had only gone a few steps before Syaoran came up on her other side and slung her other arm across his shoulder.

"We should get out of the cold as fast as we can," he said by way of explanation, the red flush of his cheeks darkening a little as he realized he had not even asked for her permission.

"Syaoran-kun is right," Fai looked up from where he was adjusting his cloak for Sakura to be able to walk in without tripping. Kurogane had decided to go on ahead without waiting for the rest of the group and was nothing more than a dark figure in the blinding whiteness that surrounded them when they were finally ready to move towards the structure ahead. "We should hurry. None of you are dressed for this type of cold."

"I know," Xahra whined dramatically, "I can't feel my toes anymore."

"That's what you get for wearing sandals in the snow." Maddy said smugly, grinning a little for having gotten back at her friend for her earlier comment about her accident-proneness.

"Hey, the game manual didn't come with instructions about dressing in heavy winter gear."She protested with a pout that looked rather childish on her face.

"_Now_ she decides to blame the stupid board game." Madiha grumbled under her breath, causing Syaoran to look at her in mild confusion. "We arrived at that shop because this idiot forced me to play a board game."

"I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, Xahra-chan," Fai piped up as they drew closer to the structure, "what sort of board game was it?"

"It was pretty old. You know, one of those antique, wood-carved ones. There was a metal plaque fixed to its bottom with a set of instructions on how to play."

"Was there anything special about it?" Sakura asked.

"Well… not really." The raven-head replied casually, "Except I got this weird vibe from it the first time I touched it. Now that I think about it, I get the same sort of vibe from Mokona when it's about to transport us."

A small frowned threatened to break out on Fai's face upon hearing those words. The board had been a magical item, of that he was sure. But when Xahra said she had gotten a weird vibe from the object… was it possible that she was a psychic? After all, he could not really sense any magic about her person, so she could not have been a witch herself. But she was capable of detecting active magic.

"I do not run a boarding house." They could hear someone yell angrily a little ways ahead. Kurogane must have knocked on the door and asked to be let in. "Go away."

"Look, lady, it's fucking freezing out here."

"I do not care." The woman seemed to be shouting, "For all I know, you could be a monster waiting for me to let you in so that you can kill me and drink my blood."

"I didn't know the legend of the vampires was so popular." Xahra snickered, though it quickly turned into a sneeze.

"His red eyes do seem to give him the appearance of a blood-sucker." Maddy said sagely.

"Kurogane-san is a blood-sucker?" Syaoran questioned, casting a rather alarmed look in the direction of the house and then back at Sakura being helped along by Fai.

"Well… the sun doesn't seem to burn him." Maddy replied with a thoughtful frown, "but who's to say he didn't get a witch to spell some charm for him."

"What?"Syaoran yelped.

"He does seem rather ferocious at times, though." The brunette continued, acting as though she hadn't heard him. "And if you look really close, I think you can see the fangs, too."

"Quit scaring him like that, Maddy." Xahra cut in with a roll of her eyes, "she's talking about the vampire myth, nothing else. They say vampires can't enter a home without being invited in. The old lady that owns that house up ahead must have heard of a similar legend, and given Kurogane's rather intimidating appearance, she must have figured he's something similar. Although… one would think he might have sparkled instead."

"I don't know what you have been drinking, lady, but I don't want to kill you." Kurogane growled angrily, "I just want to get out of the damn snow."

"I think it'd be best if I talked to her, Kurgs," Fai smoothly interrupted the ninja as he quickly climbed up the steps and gave the rather abnormally short old woman at the door a charming smile. She had silvery hair tied up at the back of her head in a strict-looking bun. "Hello, Ma'am. Could my friends and I please have some shelter from the blizzard?"

"I do not let strangers into my home." She frowned, shooting a dirty look at the ninja through her squinty eyes.

"We'll be out of your hair as soon as the weather clears out, Ma'am." Syaoran promised as he ducked out from under Maddy's arm and stepped into the woman's line of sight. Her lip curled in distaste as she took in the sight of the rest of the travelers before she shook her head and made to close the door.

"Please, Ma'am, we'll freeze to death outside." Sakura stepped forward as well, green eyes silently pleading the woman.

"Not my headache." The woman replied stubbornly.

"We'll do your housework for you!" Xahra offered hurriedly, afraid that the woman might actually leave them to freeze to death.

"What did you say?" the woman paused to look at Xahra.

"We'll do your housework for you." she repeated.

"You will do my housework for me?" the woman said slowly. "'Do my housework for me' she says."And then she started laughing, backing away from the door while leaving it open. "'Do my housework' she says." Still laughing, the woman shuffled inside, "Well, do not just stand out there waiting to freeze to death, get inside." She called out as she disappeared from their sight, "And you, boy with demon eyes, close the door behind you."

Shooting a grateful look at Xahra, Syaoran hurried over to help Sakura inside while Fai moved to help the lavender-eyed girl support Maddy over the threshold.

"Just so you know," Maddy muttered, "I wasn't the one that offered to do the chores around her house, so don't expect me to work."

"Me either."Kurogane grunted as he shut the door behind them.

"Come sit by the fire," the woman emerged in the doorway at the end of the narrow landing.

-0-

"You and your friends can stay at my house for as long as you need," the woman told them a short while later as they gratefully soaked up the heat offered by the fire crackling merrily in the hearth in what appeared to be a lavishly decorated parlor with heavily-carved sofas, thick, golden-framed paintings and heavy, velvety curtains. "And you need not do any chores around here either, but," she added sharply, looking them all in the eye with a serious expression, "I have one condition."

"What sort of condition, Ma'am?" Fai asked with a pleasant smile.

"I want you to defeat me in a game of cards." She said simply.

"Well if that is all you want-" the wizard began, only to be cut off by the aged woman.

"Not you," she barked, pointing at Sakura. "I want the girl to play with me."

"Me?" Sakura asked, looking a little alarmed at the sudden attention.

"Yes you."

"But-" Maddy and Syaoran started at the same time.

"Either she plays against me, or you all leave my house this instant." The woman talked over them.

"What will you do if you win?" Kurogane grunted with a quirked brow.

"Why, I will just throw you out of my house." She answered, shooting a wicked grin in his direction.

"But I have no idea how to play." Sakura murmured helplessly as the woman cackled and led her to a small table by one hand. Seating her in a plush chintz chair before taking up the space opposite to her, the old woman proceeded to conjure a deck of playing cards from the folds of her dress. The table was placed a little ways away from the fireplace, but it wasn't so far that the heat of the crackling fire did not reach them.

"Either you play, girl," the old woman ignored the protests of the rest of the group, choosing instead to shuffle the cards in her hands, "or you and your friends can leave just now." The woman told her as she shuffled the cards, ignoring the protests of the rest of the group.

Biting her lip, Sakura almost looked towards her friends, hoping they'd somehow help her out, before stopping herself. She was being ridiculous. The owner of this house would not let her or her friends stay unless _she_ played. They had all been helping her find her memories, even though she could tell not all of them had started out the journey to help her, save Syaoran. But they were all helping her anyways, while all she did was sleep. Here she was being presented a chance to help them out and be useful for a change. She couldn't let them down. Taking in a deep breath, she held it for a second, steeling her resolve, "I'll play."

"Since you have no idea how to play, I will tell you the rules once." the woman offered. She must have taken pity on the sight their group presented. "Beat me and I will let your friends and you stay."

Three minutes later, the game started. The woman had spoken too fast for Sakura to actually understand what she was supposed to do, but she knew better than to ask her to repeat the rules again.

"Even _I _didn't catch half of what the old crone said." She heard Madiha mutter in a rather exasperated tone, "How does she expect Sleeping Beauty to play against her?"

"Would you rather this 'old crone' throw you all out of her house right now?" the woman spoke without looking up from her cards.

"No, um… Madiha-san didn't mean anything by that." She hurriedly offered, hoping it would placate the woman enough to not want to make good on her threat, "I'll play."

The woman was kind enough to actually offer an explanation with every move she played, answering her questions when Sakura asked if she was doing something right or not. Sakura bit her lip in concentration, wondering if she ought to lay down the cards or not. The objective of the game was to lay down a combination or collection of the biggest cards, while keeping in mind that you had to rid yourself of the smaller cards before the larger ones. The only exception to this rule was if you had an Ace. She was sure the cards in her hand were all aces but one. Chewing absently, she observed the woman's face, who was scrutinizing her as though hoping to tear apart her face and read the thoughts going through her mind.

"It's alright if I do this, right?" she asked hesitantly, as she laid down her cards.

The woman's eyes bugged out of her head, almost falling out, before she regained her composure with a quick cough.

"Beginner's luck," she said, waving her hand in the air in a dismissive gesture, "We will play another round."

"That's not fair!" Xahra cried out as the same time as Madiha yelled, "She won!" Kurogane was rather vocal about his opinions too, although she was somewhat surprised when neither Syaoran nor Fai said anything. She wondered what Mokona would have done, but they had mutually agreed that with this woman's suspicions, it was best that the dimension hopper hide till they moved on. She wasn't given any time to ponder on that, though, as the woman thrust the newly shuffled cards in her hands.

"The rules are the same, girl."

Five minutes later.

"Lucky fluke. We will play again."

Another five minutes later.

"… change in the rules." The woman grunted with a rather annoyed frown on her face, "Every game you win means one of your friends gets to stay. Any time you lose, you all get kicked out. Win a game for every member and I will even lend you some warmer clothes."

-0-

Sakura slowly laid her cards on the table, holding her breath as she observed the woman for her reaction. She did not mind playing the game, but she really hoped the woman would not change her mind about letting them stay now. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened, although she did hear Madiha swear softly followed by the sound of Xahra smacking and scolding her for swearing. The woman merely looked at the cards on the table before laying her own collection down.

The woman had three kings, a queen and a jack. Sakura looked back at her own collection. Four aces and the last king.

"Ahaha…" The woman started laughing, "I do not know how you have been doing this, little girl, but I like you. They used to call me the queen of card players because no one could beat me at this game. But it appears to me as though the gods above have favored you as their daughter in my stead for this game."

"This mean we can stay, right?" Madiha asked hurriedly.

"Quite frankly, I do not really like you, or the boy with the demon eyes," the woman frowned in distaste. "You two have no manners whatsoever," she sniffed rather snobbishly as she collected the cards and concealed them back within the folds of her dress, "but I gave this girl my word. You can all stay."

"And the clothes?" Kurogane grunted impatiently. Sakura wondered why the tall man sounded so angry all the time.

"I will get you the clothes when you bring in the firewood, boy." The woman replied as she climbed to her feet and looked at the almost-dying embers in the grate. The fireplace was a rather magnificent piece, made out of carved stone with tiny stone angels cut into the rock, staring out at them all with their cherubic faces. "The fire is almost out."

"Why should I bring the wood in?" the ninja growled, and Sakura almost worried for the woman's safety.

"Because Kuro-tan is such a big, strong, manly man." Fai offered happily.

"How many times have I told you?" the man exploded, making Sakura jump in her seat as she stared at the ninja with wide eyes. She was always taken by surprise when the older man started shouting like that, even though she had heard him yell at Fai on a couple of occasions by now. "My name is KUROGANE! KU-RO-GA-NE! Get it right, damnit!"

"He will be happy to get the firewood for you, Ma'am." The blond smiled widely at the woman.

"I like you too, boy." The woman grinned in approval, "you will be fun to have around the house."

"Um… is there anything I can do to help?" she asked softly, hoping that if maybe the woman gave her something to do as well, Kurogane's anger at having to go out in the cold would lessen a little.

"You can sit by the fire and enjoy the heat, little girl." The woman told her, sending a shark-like grin in Kurogane's direction, "which reminds me, the fire is not going to last forever, demon boy! The wood is in the shed at the end of the garden. Try and come back before it dies out, will you?"

Grunting and grumbling about old hags and using a lot of rather choice words that left Sakura blushing in mortification, the ninja left the room, the front door closing rather forcefully only a short while later.

"Now then, what are your names?" The woman asked, looking at each of them in turn, "I cannot keep on calling you all boy and girl, can I now?"

"My name is Fai D. Flourite." Fai replied with a bright grin, "My friends are Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kun, Xahra-chan and Maddy-chan. The demon boy you just sent outside is Kuro-tan."

"You can call me Granny Pinnako." The woman replied. "You two," she barked a second later, pointing her bony finger at Xahra and Madiha, "girl with dark hair and the girl with glasses, come help me find some clothes for you and your companions."

"I thought she asked our names so she wouldn't call us 'girl' or 'boy'." Madiha grumbled as she climbed to her feet making to follow after Xahra and Pinnako but was stopped by Syaoran. "I'll help her instead. I think you shouldn't put any strain on your foot."

"Did you injure your foot, Madiha-san?" Sakura asked, taking note of how the brunette was only barely touching one foot to the ground, resting her entire weight on the other one.

"I stumbled and fell in the snow outside, Sleeping Beauty." She grumbled, though Sakura could tell her annoyance was more at the fact that she fell than at the fact that she had to stay behind and rest her foot. "And call me Maddy. God, how I wish I could somehow lose my clumsiness." She groaned out loud, though she seemed to be talking only to herself, "I wonder if that witch would be willing to take my clumsiness as a price for a wish."

-0-

"The storm will have passed by noon tomorrow, hopefully." Granny Pinnako told them, as they all sat at the dinner table later that night. "You can head into town and buy something more suitable for yourselves. Why you did not think to bring appropriate clothes with you when you came to this country?"

"We had an accident along the way and lost our luggage and coach and all our money on the way here." Fai answered smoothly, not even pausing for a breath as he invented the story off the top of his head. After having to go so long with making up excuses to cover up one thing or another, it was almost like second nature to him now. Although he did remind himself to take it a little easy on the enthusiasm next time, since he did not really like the look Kurogane had shot in his direction as he had spoken. "That's how Maddy-chan hurt her ankle, too."

"I see."Pinnako scrutinized him closely for a second before nodding and turning her attention back to her dinner. "I see." She repeated and he knew that she knew that he had just fed her a lie. "Very well, I will lend you some money to make the purchases you find necessary for the rest of your trip."

"Are you sure?" the ever-caring Sakura asked, frowning a little. The princess might not have most of her memories but from the look on her face, Fai could tell she had guessed it would take a lot of money to get everything they wanted. Pinnako had lent them some warm clothes that she had kept of her son and his family, but they did not really fit any of them. Well, maybe except for Kurogane. He was a perfect fit, but everyone else seemed to be drowning in their clothes. Pinnako was the only short member of her family, it would seem.

"Let us just that say you are collecting your earnings from winning all those games earlier and leave it at that, hmm?" she grinned at the princess.

"Well, is there anything you would like for us to do in return?"

"So long as it doesn't involve another trip down the garden." Kurogane grunted as he struggled with the spoon in his hand. It was almost amusing to see the usually stoic ninja glaring at the eating utensil as though it had done him a great personal wrong. Well… seeing as how it had rendered him unable to enjoy the warm meal, Fai supposed that it had.

"Which direction did you say you kids were all heading in?" Pinnako asked.

"We haven't actually decided on a specific direction yet." Syaoran replied hesitantly.

"You are travelling and you do not know where you are going?" she looked over at the boy incredulously.

"We are actually researching old legends and unusual occurrences." He replied, setting down his spoon to meet the woman's gaze. "Anything out of the ordinary that might have happened recently?"

"My neighbors say they have heard talk in town about how there have been mysterious disappearances going on up north." Pinnako replied, ladling a spoonful of steaming stew into her bowl as she did so. "They say it's the work of the Golden-haired Princess and her mysterious feather."

"What did you say?"

"There is a legend of old about a beautiful, golden-haired princess that lived at the castle up north. One day, a bird flew up to the princess and gave her a shiny feather. It said, 'this feather will grant you mysterious powers.' Not long after that, the king and the queen died and then children from the village were drawn to the castle by the feather's power. Not a single child left the castle."

"How can they connect an old legend to something that is happening now?" Xahra asked, while Fai could almost see the urge within Syaoran to race out of the house and go all the way to the North to get that feather right then.

"Children have started disappearing again, just like in the legend." Pinnako said simply, "With the village located so close to the ruins of that old castle, superstitious old wives brewed up this tale to keep themselves busy. Blasted things, though, their tales keep people from heading north now. They are all afraid if they go there, they will become the next victims."

"I suppose we might be heading north, in that case." Syaoran declared after swallowing a bite of his bread.

"In that case," Pinnako set down her fork and climbed to her feet, having finished with dinner, "I want you to bring a package to my sister living there."

-0-

"It was really nice of Pinnako-san to lend us the money to buy clothes."

"Yeah, real nice."Madiha grumbled, eyeing the outfits in the small dress shop with obvious distaste. "Does every dress in here come with a corset?"

No one answered her question. Sakura had already disappeared into a side room connected to the one they were in to change into a dress she had picked for herself. Xahra was too busy gushing over a lavender dress set up in the display window of the shop to actually pay any attention to what anyone else was saying. Sighing heavily, Madiha resumed her browsing of the shelves stacked with folded dresses, wondering why fate loved to torture her so.

"Umm…Maddy-san," Sakura peeked through the door, "could you help me tie up the strings of this dress? I can't reach them by myself."

"I have _no_ idea how to tie a corset," she answered with a shrug as she made her way towards the room, "but I won't complain if you won't."

"Does Xahra-san know?" The princess seemed almost intimidated by the manic gleam in her eyes.

"Trust me," she let the door shut behind her with a slam, "you're much better off with me trying to do this for you."

Fifteen minutes later.

"…I think we better call Xahra for help."

"A-Are you sure, Maddy-san?"

"Would you rather remain stuck like this until one of the guys finds us?" She quirked a brow. "Yeah, didn't think so. Xahra! Get your stupid butt in here!"

"Why are you trying to raise the dead with all your screaming, Maddy?" Xahra said as she opened the door and entered the room with the lavender dress slung over her arm, only to freeze in her steps at the sight that met her eyes. "H-How in the world did you get tangled up in the strings used to t-tie a corset?" she snickered, gently setting her own dress at the back of a chair before approaching the tied up girls. "Man, I so wish I had a camera on me right now. Remind me to buy one on the next technologically-advanced world we go to, alright?"

"Stop snickering and babbling and get us out of these strings."

"You should have just asked me to help you instead, Sakura." She chuckled, ignoring her fuming friend in favor of freeing the princess first. "Maddy here is one of the world's biggest walking-talking hazards. If you stay around her for too long, you'll probably end up getting infected by her clumsiness."

"_You_ don't seem infected by me." Madiha bit out.

"That's because I have developed immunity to it after all these years." She stuck out her tongue before nimbly working on the tangled strings, "I'm still surprised you actually managed to make it all the way to the dungeons to free me and Naomi in Citadel. How did you avoid tripping over your own feet or knocking down a few guards over a few alarms on your way there?"

"Probably had something to do with Sleeping Beauty being, oh, what were the words the old crone used for her? Oh yeah. Must have been due to the fact that Sleeping Beauty was a favored daughter of the gods?"

"You mean she's lucky enough to overwrite your clumsiness?"

"Yeah, sure, let's go with that."

"Here you go, Sakura," Xahra smiled at the princess, admiring her handiwork as she circled the girl once. "This dress looks really cute on you. I saw a really nice cloak outside that would go well with this color. Come, I'll show you." Grabbing hold of the auburn-haired girl's hand, Xahra dragged her back into the main part of the shop.

"Hey! I'm still tied up in here!" Madiha cried, "Xahra, get me the hell out of these strings, damn it! Xahra!"

Half an hour later, the bespectacled girl had been forced into a cream-colored dress by her best friend-slash-part-time-torturer.

"I can't breathe." She croaked as Xahra pulled the strings a little too tight. The corset that went with her dress was a warm chocolate brown, same as the frills that decorated the sleeves of her dress. Xahra was already decked out in her lavender dress, the lower part poofing below her waist and making it look like a dress out of some fairytale. Sakura, in a pretty pink dress, looked every bit the princess that she was, even if she was currently biting her lip in apprehension, no doubt wondering if maybe she should intervene in Xahra's choking session of her best friend.

"Oh come on, Madiha," she scoffed, tugging rather viciously at the strings, "quit being such a big baby."

"I'm not being a baby," she protested weakly. It had barely been a day in this world and she already hated everything about it, from the cold to the dresses to her psychotic best friend. "There is a friggin' vice around my lungs and you're using it to choke the life out of me."

"Umm… Maybe Maddy-san could try something different?" Sakura offered hesitantly.

"Nah, don't worry about it, Sakura," Xahra waved off her concern before Madiha had a chance to get a word in. "She's just being a drama queen."

"I'm not a drama queen." She growled menacingly, "Loosen the strings before I asphyxiate."

"Fine," Xahra pouted a little before doing as Madiha asked. "Be a spoilsport."

"How does my not wanting to suffocate make me a spoilsport?" She exploded, though thanks to the corset's vice-like grip around her torso, she was unable to draw a deep enough breath to yell properly.

"It kept me from murdering you, didn't it?" Xahra countered easily.

"I don't even _want_ to know what goes on in that mind of yours more than half the time." Madiha said, shaking her head as she turned around to observe the dress in the mirror that was placed on one side of the room. Even though she had hated the corset with a passion from the minute Xahra had tightened the first string, she did find herself admiring the way it made her look.

"You gotta admit, though," Xahra grinned as she walked up behind her and started posing a little in front of the mirror, "choking devices or not, they do make us look kinda hot." She added a pout at the end for effect.

"…" Maddy observed their reflection for a couple of seconds, "you're right. It does."

"See!" Xahra grinned triumphantly.

"But I still can't breathe, damn it!"

"And Sakura looks absolutely adorable in her dress." Xahra gushed, ignoring her best friend in favor of dragging the princess to the mirror. She moved her this way and that, "She's like a life-sized doll that moves and talks and breathes and…"

"In other words, she's alive." Madiha said, coming to the poor girl's rescue and freeing her from her insane friend, "And I'm pretty sure Syaoran would appreciate it if she stays that way when he comes back."

"I can think of something else that he would appreciate when he comes back." The lavender-eyed girl said with a sly grin, giving a wink in the princess's direction. This only served to make Sakura blush like a tomato.

"Xahra-san, th-that sort of thing is…" The girl stuttered, obviously trying to find an appropriate word, though she deflated a little when she couldn't find anything.

"Xahra, quit picking on her." Maddy sighed, giving up on trying to pull her hair back into a bun. It would have been so much easier to have her hair in a bun if she was going to pull a hood over her head to stay warm, but her hair was being even more annoying than usual, "Isn't it enough that you have been torturing me?"

"Fine then," Xahra directed her mischievous grin at the brunette, "Should I say something about how you appear to be so worried about looking good for a certain blonde?"

Shooting an annoyed glare at Xahra, she hurriedly finished braiding her hair and let it fall behind her shoulders. "Why am I friends with you again?" She grumbled as she hurriedly gathered their discarded clothes and threw them in a small satchel they had bought a little while earlier.

"Aww, you know you love me." Xahra chirped as she followed the brunette and the princess towards the front of the shop where there was a small selection of winter cloaks.

"Yeah," she admitted, holding the door open for Sakura to pass before going through it herself. If Xahra was going to be stupid, she could open the door for herself, "but it does make me question my sanity sometimes."

"Don't worry, I question your sanity all the time."

"Shut up," She growled, picking up a mustard-colored woolen shawl that was lined with dark fur. It felt soft under her fingers, but taking a look at her dress, she dropped it. The colors didn't look so good together. "Hey, Sakura, mind helping me pick something out from all this?"

"Um, sure."

"Hey, I could help you." Xahra offered as she bounded up to the two.

"Did you hear a fly buzzing around here, Sakura?" she said, making a show of looking around the room as though searching for the imaginary insect.

"Oi! I'm not a fly." Xahra protested.

"There it was again." Madiha said loudly, "I swear, there is a fly in here somewhere."

"Maddy-san, I don't think there is a fly in here." Sakura said slowly, probably worrying for the sanity of the two girls she had been left with. "It was just Xahra-san speaking."

"Xahra who?" She replied carelessly, holding up a dark, blackish-brown cloak with a wooden clasp that was in the shape of an intricately carved flower entwined with vines. "I don't know anyone by that name."

"And she's always telling _me_ to act my age," Xahra snorted as she crossed her arms and looked away.

"What do think of this one?" Madiha asked the princess as she held up the cloak with the wooden clasp, ignoring her sulking best friend altogether.

"It matches your dress." The girl offered.

"You think so too? I should get this one then, right?" she grinned, pulling it over her shoulders as she spoke. "I really like the clasp. It's kind of pretty. I like the clasp on your cloak too, by the way." She added as she adjusted the cloak and turned to face her. "Pink really suits you."

"Thank you, Madiha-san." The princess smiled brightly. "I think you look really nice as well."

"Thanks. But call me Maddy," she took her hand, leading the girl out of the dress shop, "The 'san' at the end just makes my name sound really weird and I prefer being called by my nickname anyways."

_**A/N: As you can all tell, it's gonna be the same world but the order of events won't be the same even if I might end up borrowing a few scenes from the original manga. But I hope you'll enjoy reading this version of the story too. **_

_**Cookies for anyone who can tell me which two shows I borrowed the ideas of the vampire legend from. This is the first time that I wrote in Sakura's and Syaoran's POV, what do you think? Did I get it right for those two? I'm more worried about Sakura than anything since I haven't really gotten around to writing her in a light sort of setting before. Well, this canon Sakura I mean. I've written her AU versions but that's not just the same for me since they react differently than this one because they grew up differently so they're different persons that share her soul and… I'm rambling. -_-; I'll shut up now.**_

_**Next chapter, the guys get to see the girls for the first time and Maddy lets her horror be known to the others after seeing their mode of transport. The group finally heads of to the village in the Northern Country and things start getting a little weird as more children disappear.**_

_**Questions, comments or just about anything else, lemme know via review. Till next time.**_

_**~Obsidian Buterfly**_


	19. Jade: Engaged to be Married!

_**A/N: Sorry you guys had to wait so long for an update though to be honest, I'm not really sure if anyone is even following this story anymore. It's fun to write whenever my muse visits me though I'm sure once Shattered Secrets and Broken are finished, it'll visit a lot more often. Anywho, I finally managed to write down an update and I hope you guys will enjoy what I put together. I have a lot of ideas for this story though the plot that I have managed lay down for it means I might have to break it into smaller books, each covering two arcs along with an omake chapter or two. ^_^; **_

_**So a warning to all the followers for this story out there. I will soon be renaming this story. Now without further ado, enjoy the update~**_

"Hyuu!" Fai fake-whistled the moment the girls stepped out of the quaint dress shop, "The girls are looking rather pretty in those dresses, don't you think, Syaoran-kun? Especially Sakura-chan." He added with a small nudge and a wink in the brunette's direction, inwardly grinning in amusement as the boy balked before turning an interesting shade of red as he quickly averted his eyes.

"Syaoran's not looking bad himself." Xahra grinned wickedly from behind the jade-eyed princess.

"Xahra-san…I to-told you…" Sakura whimpered weakly as she started fiddling with her cloak, looking anywhere but at Syaoran.

"Quit picking on them, you two." Maddy grumbled, smacking Xahra's shoulder as she did so. "But I must say I agree with idiot number one and idiot number two." She added with a smile, earning a protest of "hey!" from idiot number one, "You two do look pretty cute."

"So says idiot number three." Kurogane grunted under his breath.

"Oh, shut up, Blackie." Maddy rolled her eyes as she readjusted the clothing bag on her shoulder before thinking better of it and dumping it on the ninja. "You're just jealous no one said you're looking cute."

"I'm a guy. I don't _do_ cute." He said, directing a glare at the bespectacled girl, "and my name is _Kurogane_."

"Right, because you're supposed to be a big, scary _manly-_man." She grinned in a teasing manner, though the smile slid off her face only to be replaced by absolute horror at the sound of a loud snort. "Xahra, please tell me that isn't what I think it is." She said weakly.

"You mean I should tell you that the four creatures currently tethered to that stand-thingy over there are not horses?" Xahra chirped, "Okay then. Those are not horses. They're just very large herbivorous dogs."

"Why does the universe hate me?" Madiha wailed, "I never did anything wrong. I mean just because I stole your chocolate stash a few times doesn't mean the universe would punish me with horses, would it?"

"Wait a minute…" Xahra turned to glare at her best friend, "_you_ stole my chocolates?"

"Uhh… Did I say that? No! I meant to say, _why?_"Madiha blanched, quickly latching on to Sakura before sobbing dramatically into her shoulder, "_Why, oh why, does the universe hate me so?_"

"Because Maddy stole Xahra's chocolates." Mokona piped up, suddenly emerging from the folds of Fai's cloak before jumping on top of Kurogane's head. "Maddy stole the chocolates! Maddy stole the chocolates! The universe hates her!"

"Get off of my head, you stupid meat-bun!" Kurogane yelled angrily, swiping to catch the dimension hopper, who merely jumped out of the way.

"Waaahhh, Kuro-meanie wants to hurt Mokona." The white creature hopped into Syaoran's arms, the boy struggling to keep his composure seeing the adults of the group act in such a childish way.

Lady Pinako's estate was located at the edge of a quaint little town with neat rows of buildings with sloping roofs, their expansive snow-covered lawns lined with beautiful wrought-iron lampposts. The streets were covered in melting snow, letting them all have a peek at the cobbled roads in some places. Occasionally ladies dressed in flouncy dresses accompanied by haughty men dressed in well-tailored suits could be seen out in the street, though most people seemed to prefer staying indoors in such cold weather. They had been directed by their hostess to the part of the town which was frequented by the elite of the settlement. He couldn't quite comprehend why the old woman had wanted them to head there when they might have been able to get their clothes and supplies from a less expensive shop as well, but their short-statured hostess would hear nothing of it. In the end they had given in, deciding they might as well do as she wished since she was paying for whatever they bought.

The brunette had to admit that the material of his pants, though somewhat thick, was not in the least bit scratchy and actually quite comfortable to move around in. Winters in Clow were always brief, the nights barely growing cold enough during the short spell of chilly weather for the habitants to don warmer clothes, which he had always found a little uncomfortable to wear. He had actually been dreading having to wear something similar here, but it was relief to note that the material was soft yet warm.

They had decided on getting four horses for their little travelling party simply because any supplies that they had bought would be transported inside Mokona, and out of the group of six, only four people knew how to ride the beasts, so two of the girls, namely Madiha and Sakura, would end up travelling with another rider.

"I hope you are not too cold, Hime." He told the jade-eyed princess softly as he helped her climb on top of the horse. A pang of longing hit his heart again when she flashed him _that_ smile of hers instead of the special one that she had reserved just for him. Letting go of her hand, he helped her arrange her dress before climbing behind her. If she had still had all of her memories, would she have scolded him for calling her a princess like she did so many times in Clow? He smiled subconsciously as he imagined how she would have probably ranted about not liking it when he used her title. But then again, now that she no longer had her memories of him, she probably would think it strange if he suddenly dropped the honorifics and addressed her like she had always wanted him to. He had never quite realized how much he would miss her little rants, because he knew that if she ever asked him to call her by just her name one more time, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"I'm quite warm, thank you for asking, Syaoran-kun." She replied with a shake of her head. There was also the fact that she had stopped calling him Syaoran. Oh, how he wished she would call him that one more time. "The cloak is very warm, so I don't feel cold at all." Her next words were cut off by an angry yell from Madiha, who was glaring at her best friend's innocently smiling face.

-0-

"No, no and another big, _fat_ NO!" Fai watched as the brunette crossed her arms across her chest, brows furrowed in anger as she argued with her dark-haired friend. Xahra had suggested that Madiha ride with either Kurogane or himself instead of sharing a horse with the lavender-eyed girl and Madiha had blown her top. It was quite clear what her opinion on the matter was. "I am not riding with either of them."

"Why not?" Xahra questioned, gently patting her horse's muzzle, giggling a little as the mare snorted and the warm air hit her gloved hands.

"Kurogane would drop me, probably just out of spite, and Fai is annoying." He stifled a laugh at her reasoning, adopting a look of mock hurt instead as he looked at the girl reproachfully. It was quite amusing to see how she seemed to have a major problem when it came to doing anything with him. "Oh, Maddy-chan, you wound me so."

"And on top of being annoying," the girl added with a quick eye-roll, "he's a drama queen, too."

"I agree with that." Kurogane piped up as he checked the saddle of his ride for the final time before climbing on its back with well-practiced ease.

"Hey! I resent that," he complained. "I'm a guy, so call me a drama _king_ if you must."

"Well, vengeful and annoying or not," Xahra cut in smoothly before the brunette could reply, "you will have to pick one of those two. I'm not a good enough rider to be able to control the horse while riding with a passenger."

"What the heck are you going on about? You can ride just fine." Madiha protested. "You're just doing this because I stole your chocolates." So, each of the two girls had a sweet-tooth as well. Paying only half his attention to their banter, Fai turned his gaze to their surroundings, feeling surprisingly at home in the white-covered landscape. Celes had been a world of perpetual winter, and being in worlds not covered in endless snow had been a rather unnerving experience for him even though he had masked his discomfort well enough so that none of his companions, not even Kurogane with his somewhat-acute sense of observation, had noticed it. Now, while the rest of his companions griped and complained about the cold, he let himself bask in it for a little while.

_An endless winter-world, that's what we live in._ A soft voice echoed somewhere in his memories. _I wonder what it would feel like to live in a place that's warm, like those countries mentioned in the manuscripts we have in the library. Have you ever been to a place like that, Fai?_

Madiha screeched indignantly and Fai was pulled out of his thoughts yet again. He mentally chided himself for letting his guard down like that twice in a row as he turned his head to look at the sputtering brunette from her position atop Kurogane's horse as she clung to the ninja for dear life. It presented quite a comic image to the magician and he could not help but comment on it. "My, my, looks like Kuro-tan has finally let his inner brute come to the surface. Manhandling a lady in such an undignified manner." He sniffed in mock disdain.

"I'll treat her like one when she decides to _act _like one." Came the ninja's response and Fai suppressed the urge to chuckle at the sheer outrage that showed on the bespectacled girl's face.

"If I wasn't so scared I'd fall of this stupid horse and break my neck, I would be breaking _your _neck right about now," he heard her hiss to the Japanese man and ended up chuckling behind his hand after all. This trip would prove quite amusing, if nothing else, he decided as he pulled on the reigns of his horse and made the creature follow after Syaoran and the others, bringing up the rear. According to the place they had bought the horses from, the town they wanted to go to was called Spirit. He wondered what story they would present for a cover when they arrived. Surely, despite their now-local clothes, they still looked foreign enough to cause quite a stir wherever they went. It was a good thing Kurogane had suggested they forego the carriage. It would be best to try as little stir as possible while they attempted to find the feather.

Grinning to himself, he dismissed the thoughts as Kurogane's reaction on being presented to whoever received them as a servant rose to the forefront of his mind. Oh, he would enjoy this journey for sure.

-0-

"You know, my favorite time of the year has got to be spring." The brunette riding with him spoke out of the blue, "When it's all warm and sunny and pleasant and there are flowers everywhere and the world is _not _covered in an endless sea of stupid white!"

"Snow is not that bad, Maddy," her friend replied in a light-hearted tone, though Kurogane could easily detect her tiredness, "you just have to be a little open-minded and, umm… well, open to new experiences."

"Open to new experiences? I think I have had more than enough new experiences to last me a lifetime." grumbled the former of the two girls. "As if being forced to go on a journey through different _dimensions _wasn't new enough, I have to ride on a _horse, _of all things! I'm going to fall and crack my skull open and die! Knowing the sort of friend you are, I have no doubt you'd only point and laugh as my brain spews all over the stupid snow."

"You're not going to fall." Kurogane grit out, his gaze shifting towards his younger companions for a minute. The princess was staring at the bespectacled girl with that typical, worried gaze of hers, biting her lip and all while the kid appeared rather green in the face. If this kept up, those two would be scarred for life. Not that he really cared much about it, but if this stupid girl's ramblings resulted in those two not being able to function properly it would only prolong the time he would be forced to spend with this group of clowns, which would mean he would have to wait that long to find a way back home which in turn would mean it would be that much longer that Tomoyo-hime would be left vulnerable without him watching over her. "Quit scaring the brats with the graphic descriptions of your supposed final moments."

"Kurogane is right, Maddy," the raven-haired girl chirped, "after all, a big strong manly-man like him wouldn't let a lady fall, especially one who has entrusted him with her life."

"I think he would push me off any second if I wasn't clinging on to him _for_ dear life." Kurogane internally bristled at that. Even if the two girls were merely poking fun at him, he would never, ever let someone who had entrusted their life to him die on his watch. Not without laying down his own life first. How dare this whiner insinuate that?

"I won't push you off or let you fall," he growled, "now shut up and stop whining. You're giving me a headache." But even as he said these words, he tightened his grip on the girl just a fraction, if only to ensure she would not slip off the horse and fall on her own accord. It wouldn't be good for his pride if she were indeed to die while riding with him. Although, he might just join the raven-head in pointing at the brunette and laughing as her brains spattered all over the annoyingly white snow. Being the trained assassin that he was, he knew that having to stay out in the open for so long, surrounded by the stark white and dressed in dark clothes, they would be open targets for bandits for miles. The thought of having no cover and so much exposure left him feeling uneasy, especially considering the fact that he worked best when using shadows to his advantage.

"So tell me, Kurogane," the raven-head pulled her horse at level with his, lightly holding on to the reigns as she turned her head to look at him, "what sort of a country do you live in? Do you guys have winter there? Does it snow? Is there spring? What about summer? And autumn? Do you have monsoon season? What about-"

"Japan has four seasons, summer, autumn, winter and spring, in that order." He cut in, hoping that if he answered her quickly, he would be able to get her to shut up. The path they were travelling on was covered in snow, but trees lined the road on both sides, guiding them despite the blanket of white. "Winters are cold, but it only snows up in the mountains."

"What about your world, Xahra-chan?" the mage asked curiously.

"Well, summers are really hot where we live and winters are cold but short-lived." She replied with a smile, "Spring is really colorful since there are flowers everywhere, which, like Maddy said, is her favorite season. Mine's probably monsoon, though. The rain washes everything and the world always seems like it's been born anew. The sky always looks great once the clouds clear up and the sun shines brighter too. And at night the stars are really pretty after the rain falls."

"Aren't stars always pretty?" the princess asked in confusion and Kurogane had to wonder the same thing. The sky did look a little better after the rain fell but it's not like it wasn't clear the rest of the year too.

"They are, but the smoke usually makes them difficult to see." She nodded in response.

"Why would there be so much smoke that you can't see the stars in your world, Xahra-san?" The kid was the one who voiced the question running through his head.

"Well, because of air pollution." The girl replied in a matter-of-fact way, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Air pollution? Did the people of her world burn so much fuel that the smoke filled up the skies in such huge amounts? How many forests did they burn out to even _accomplish_ something like that? If her words were to be believed, then there wouldn't be many trees left in her home world. "Anyhow, what about your world, Syaoran?" The lack of honorifics was rather irksome to Kurogane, but he dismissed the irritation he felt simply because of the way he had seen some of the foreigners behave at the royal court. As alien as it sounded, there were countries where people tended not to use the honorific system. These two probably came from a similar country.

"I went to a lot of countries with my father," he replied with a gentle smile. The boy probably missed the man a lot. Kurogane vaguely wondered if the kid's father knew what his son was up to. But he had come with the princess, so he probably had his father's blessings to be there.

"What about you, Sakura?" The brunette sitting in front of him decided it was time to join in the conversation, "what sort of world is your country?"

"Clow is a desert country," the princess replied, a tiny frown on her features as she struggled to recall information about her world from her broken memories. It must have sucked, not even knowing what the place she grew up in looked or felt like, "although from what little I can remember, the nights grow really cold."

"What sort of world did Fai come from?" the meat-bun piped up.

Judging from the way the idiot had been dressed in that ridiculous fur-lined coat, he either had left his home in the dead of the winter or he lived someplace very cold. It turned out to be the latter, when the blond spoke, "I live in a northern country, so everything is really cold. In fact, the summers there are only a little warmer than this sort of weather, so I guess I'm not very cold right now."

"I'd hate to be you when we get to a really hot world, in that case," the bespectacled girl mumbled under her breath, though the mage apparently still heard her as he shot her a small smile before turning his attention back to the road. Kurogane had to agree with the girl though. The idiot would be in a world of pain once they reached a desert world. He was used to the cold, so the heat would definitely be torturous for him.

"Hey guys," The raven-haired girl asked as Kurogane noticed the swinging sign hanging from a post on one side of the road in the distance. The sun was just about to set and if this town wasn't the place they were going to, then they might have to make a stop here for the night. "What was the name of the town that we were going to?"

"Spirit." The kid replied, speeding up his horse a little. Everyone else followed suit.

"Can you read what it says?" the princess asked as Kurogane tried to make sense of the squiggly lines carved out onto the wood.

"It says…"the boy frowned as he squinted to read the sign in the light of the setting sun, "Spirit! We're here."

"You can read that?" Kurogane decided to ask. The kid seemed literate, that was true, but he was still a little surprised. The kid could read kanji, too, so if that were the case, then he probably knew his way around a few languages.

"I learned to speak and read many languages when I travelled with my father." The kid nodded, that fond smile back in its place on his face as he spoke of the man.

"You and your father travelled a lot, huh?" the brunette commented as she looked at the boy approvingly, "what did he do?"

"He was an archeologist."

"Cool, so we have a mini-archeologist in the making amidst us." She grinned just as they crossed over the invisible boundary demarcating the edge of the town past the signpost. The smile slipped off her face as they saw faces peeking out at them from behind the curtained windows of almost every house. An uneasy feeling settled in Kurogane's gut at the foreboding aura that surrounded the village. It was a cold winter day, of that there was no doubt, and people liked to stay indoors, but even so, at least _someone_ had to leave the comfort and warmth of their homes and venture outside, no? If it wasn't for the faces peeking out of their windows every now and then and the smoke steadily rising from the chimneys one might have mistaken this place for a ghost town.

There were no laughing children, no chattering women near the town square nor any men joking and making merry at the pub. It appeared as though something ominous had come and sucked the life out of this place. The mage voiced how he could feel that they were probably not welcome in that town and he had to resist the urge to grunt out how it wasn't just a feeling but the truth. Just as the kid approached a little girl that had somehow ventured out of her house, her mother ripped open the door and pulled her back inside, scolding her for leaving the safety of her house as the night fell. The boy's pleas to let them know about the golden-haired princess fell on deaf ears. Sighing, he turned the horse around and they all trudged on ahead towards the town square.

Maybe if they met that midget woman's sister, they'd have an easier time confirming and locating this princess of legend. The air was still and the sound of the horses' hooves crunching through the snow was making him feel rather uncomfortable because it gave away their position too easily, never mind the fact that their little group was making quite a racket on top of that. Just because the townsfolk did not seem welcoming enough, it did nothing to deter the blond, the manju-bun and the two best friends from chattering a mile a minute. He made the mistake of letting his attention slip for the briefest of moments and a gang of armed men appeared out of nowhere in his instant of carelessness, scaring the horses enough to make them rear up and neigh in alarm. The brunette riding with him gave a shrill cry as she dug her nails into the material of his jacket as he spun the horse around a little to protect the girl from the immediate line of fire as well as keep her from falling off the horse and splattering her brains all across the snow for the world to see. After all, it wouldn't be a cause for much entertainment for him if he were stuck trying to fight off these idiots at that time.

"What business do you have here, strangers?" a rather loud man spoke as he pointed a wooden contraption towards Kurogane, perceiving him to be the biggest threat out of them all. He had to resist the urge to grin at that. Even if he did not have his armor or sword and he was stuck in a whole other world without his reputation to scare his opponents into soiling their pants, he still had enough of his menacing aura to be scary enough to someone like the idiot confronting them.

"We're here to deliver a package to Lady Pinako's sister." The raven-haired girl spoke up even as she struggled to bring her mare under control. The horse gave an agitated snort before beginning to show signs of wanting to run off. Kurogane reached out with one hand and snagged the reigns from her hands, holding on to them firmly to avoid causing a scene in front of this group of morons. The man did not seem to hold women in much regard as he seemingly eyed the girl once before dismissing her completely and turning his attention towards Kurogane.

"Who are you?" the leader of the moron company glared.

"You heard the girl," he growled in a low voice, "we're here to deliver a package, that's all you need to know."

"You need six people to deliver one package?" he questioned skeptically.

"We're also researching old legends and architecture." The kid spoke up before Kurogane could tell the moron where to stuff his skepticism.

"What are you investigating those for?" the man's mistrust of them only seemed to rise every passing second and Kurogane had to briefly wonder if he had already made up his mind not to let them pass without trouble the minute he had laid eyes on their group.

"We want to write a book." The brunette answered without missing a beat and Kurogane wondered briefly if the kid had been trying to come up with a suitable excuse ever since the midget woman had asked them about their reasons for travelling. But no one would believe a kid his age could actually write a book so what exactly was he trying to get at here?

"A kid like you?" the moron leader seemed to share Kurogane's line of thought.

"Not me." The kid half-laughed, as if the moron leader was stupid enough to assume he could do such a thing. "It's him over there." He said pointing over to the moron in their own group. The blond picked up on the lie without any trouble as he cheerfully nodded and picked up where the kid left off.

"That's right. I'm the author and this here is my little sister," he said pointing towards the princess, "this boy is my assistant and the brutish man over there is my servant."

"What the-Who the heck do you think you're-" he exploded only to have the brunette riding on the horse with him elbow him in the ribs as she hastily cut in with a loud laugh, "Kurogane is more of a bodyguard than a servant, but he is new to his job so he's still learning all the manners. I'm the one delivering the package to Lady Pinako's sister," she said, laughing in an extremely fake and girlish manner as she fluttered her eyes at the morons' leader, who for some reason, seemed to calm down a little at the sound of her sugary voice, "the girl who spoke to you before is our servant's sister. She also happens to be my personal maid."

Kurogane got the feeling that the only reason the bespectacled girl had declared her friend to be her maid was to get back at her for forcing her to ride with him.

"Oh yes, but my mistress doesn't really care much about that," his newly-dubbed sister cut in with an equally sugary laugh though he could easily see the irritation in her gaze as she tried to glare holes through her best friend, "because she is engaged to my brother and soon enough we'll be sisters-in-law!"

Kurogane was just about ready to explode once more when he got hit in the back by the stupid manju as a warning to stay quiet and play along. The moron leader seemed to be getting more and more confused every passing second and Kurogane had to grit his teeth to keep himself from saying anything that might give them all away. The girls continued making outrageous claims directed towards each other and occasionally dragging him into the tale as well. The blond seemed far too amused to put a stop to their insanity and the kids were both too dumbstruck to do anything about it. The longer the girls carried on with the stupid claims, the more the lead moron just about seemed ready to shoot someone with his contraption when they were all shielded by rather wiry-looking man who appeared out of nowhere.

"How dare you point rifles at innocent travelers?" the man yelled indignantly and Kurogane wondered just who the heck this guy thought he was to play their rescuer when the ninja was more than capable of taking care of the moron company and their 'rifles'- whatever the heck those things were.

"But they are foreigners, appearing in our town at a time such as this-" moron leader began only to be cut in by the newcomer.

"Which is exactly why we should treat them with respect!" the man turned around to face them, "I apologize on their behalf, travelers. Let me be the first to welcome you all to Spirit."

-0-

Fai followed the man along with his companions as he led them all towards the local inn that appeared to have been abandoned sometime in the past. An unsettling feeling of déjà vu had taken hold of him ever since the man had appeared out of nowhere to save them from the mob of angry villagers and the closer he got to the building, the stronger the feeling became.

"Please feel free to relax here for a little while." The man smiled as he showed them the sitting area of the inn, heading towards what appeared to be the kitchen, "You must all be tired from your journey."

As he reclined on the sofa next to the princess with Maddy seating herself on her other side, Fai struggled to keep a frown off his face as something felt rather off about their situation. Maddy should not have been sitting there. And Xahra was not supposed to be standing next to Syaoran. The girls were… they were…

"_My name is Hyde Londelus." The bespectacled man smiled as he brought them all steaming mugs of tea, "I am the doctor of this village."_

"_Thank you for letting us stay here." Syaoran said gratefully as he picked up a mug from the tray._

"_It was no problem at all." Hyde shook his head as he offered a mug to Sakura, "This used to be an inn, so there are a lot of spare rooms available." The doctor brought the tray holding two more cups towards Fai. The door to the inn burst inwards rather forcefully just as Kurogane picked up the last cup._

"My name is Jekyll Trustmenot," the bespectacled man smiled as he reentered the room, carrying a tray holding six steaming mugs of tea. "I am the doctor of this village."

"Thank you for offering us shelter here," Xahra nodded graciously as she picked up two mugs, one for herself and one for Syaoran.

"It was the least I could do after the way you were all treated by the villagers earlier," the doctor shook his head as he brought the tray to Sakura and Madiha. "This place has a lot of spare rooms available by the way, so if you don't have anywhere to stay, you are all more than welcome here." He brought the tray over to Fai. There were only two mugs left. Offering the man a smile of his own, Fai picked one up, managing to keep his brow from furrowing. Why did this all feel so strange? He shot a glance in Kurogane's direction through his lashes as he took a sip of the almost-scalding liquid, wondering if the red-eyed man had also noticed something strange, but the ninja's face gave nothing away. Just as the warrior picked up the last cup, the main door flew inwards, bringing in gusts of cold air. Immediately on their guard, everyone turned towards the door as one, watching as a rather aristocratic man marched inside with a red face. The corners of his mouth were pulled down in a frown, his cloak shedding little flecks of snow that had yet to melt as he stalked up to the doctor. An old man with hair as white as the snow outside followed right after this newcomer, looking a little apprehensive as he too walked over to Jekyll, sending a curious glance in their direction.

"What is the meaning of this, Dr. Jekyll?" the man snarled. "Why did you offer shelter to these strangers at a time like this?"

"Calm down, Mr. Kuerlson." The old man said almost pleadingly.

"How can you expect me to be calm, Mayor?" Mr. Kuerlson rounded on the mayor, "These travelers appear out of nowhere when there are children missing."

"Hey! We only just arrived here," Madiha scowled indignantly as she slammed the mug on the tabletop before climbing to her feet to glare at the man, "if this is the way you treat newcomers in your town, no wonder people have stopped coming here altogether."

"Please," Dr. Jekyll added as he stepped forward as Mr. Kuerlson turned his disapproving stare towards the brunette. "These people are researching old legends. There is a chance they might know something of value that the people living here might not. They might be able to help us find them."

"These vagabonds that showed up from nowhere?" Mr. Kuerlson snorted as he eyed their group with disdain, his gaze lingering on Madiha's scowling face longer than the others, "Half of their group comprises of women. What job does a lady have near decrepit buildings?"

"Women can do just much work as men, you opinionated chauvinist!" Madiha exploded angrily and Fai spotted Xahra shake her head in exasperation from her spot behind the newcomers. Fai had to resist the urge to grin at the look on the newly-dubbed chauvinist's face as he gaped at Madiha for a couple of seconds. Women probably did not do much in this world apart from house-keeping or child-raising. Or even if they did, it must be very uncommon a sight. "Although if you must know, I am merely here to deliver a package to Lady Pikano. If you have a problem with that, I guess you could take it up with my fiancé." She added haughtily, gesturing towards him and Kurogane. Fai really wanted to turn around and take a look at the ninja's face right at that instant, but he stopped himself at the last second. "He's the tall one leaning against the fireplace. The other girl is his sister."

"Whatever package you may have for Lady Pikano," Mr. Kuerlson said his gaze shifting towards Kurogane for a brief moment before returning to her, "you can deliver it to me, I will make sure she gets it."

"I am to deliver the package directly to Lady Pikano," Madiha replied, narrowing her eyes at the man as she sat back down and picked up the mug of tea, "what makes you think I will hand it over to a complete stranger such as yourself when it was entrusted to me?"

"Very well then," the man whirled around on his heels and started leaving, "I will take you to Lady Pikano myself, but you and all of your friends need to leave as soon as dawn breaks. You have five minutes to get ready."

"That was Mr. Kuerlson. He is the owner of a lot of properties around here. The old man with him was the mayor." Jekyll told them all, "My congratulations on your engagement by the way, Miss…?" he trailed off and it was then Fai realized that none of them had actually introduced themselves to the doctor.

"Madiha," the brunette replied, looking a little guilty and cross with herself. She probably had not wanted to be known as the ninja's fiancé.

"And your companions are?"

"Allow me to introduce everyone to you," Fai piped up cheerily because really, Madiha would probably have introduced her 'fiancé' using his proper name and that would have taken out half the fun of the whole introduction as it was so entertaining to watch the Japanese man explode upon hearing mutilations of his name. "My name is Fai D. Flourite, but you can call me Fai. My assistant is Syaoran-kun, my sister Sakura-chan, the brutish man over there who is Maddy-chan's fiancé is Kuro-t-"

"My name is Kurogane." The ninja cut in before Fai could finish.

"And I'm Xahra." Their final companion said with a little wave. "I think we should be heading out the door by now, though. Mr. Kuerlson might end up leaving without us if we take any longer."

"It's rather cold outside." Jekyll pointed out, looking a little worried, "perhaps Miss Madiha and her fiancé should head out to deliver the package and the rest of you should get settled in. If you were hoping that Lady Pikano might offer you lodgings, you might be in trouble."

"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Lady Pikano stays at Mr. Kuerlson's estate," the doctor answered, "and he doesn't look like he would want you to stay at his mansion."

"It would be best if I went with my brother," Xahra declared cheerily, "you have no idea how these two can get when left on their own. We might end up having to send out a search team to find them if someone isn't there to shepherd them back." She added with an exaggerated wink at the startled doctor and Fai couldn't help but grin. Madiha and Kurogane, both were turning a rather interesting shade of red, but unlike Jekyll- who would probably presume it to be embarrassment- Fai could tell they were both ready to blow their tops if Xahra did not shut up soon enough.

"What do you think, _dear?_" Madiha managed to grit out, looking just about ready to tear her best friend apart limb by limb, "shall we allow your dear sister to accompany us to the estate?"

"If it puts her heart at ease," the ninja growled with a touch of viciousness and Fai saw Xahra break out in a nervous sweat. She was probably wondering if it had been a good idea to offer going with the two people who really wanted to murder her and bury her corpse in the snow. "I don't see why not."

"Excellent!" The brunette declared brightly, a maniacal gleam appearing in her eyes as she latched on to Xahra's arm and proceeded to drag her outside, with Kurogane following at a slightly more sedate pace. "See you guys later." she sang before disappearing outside. The door slammed shut behind them and the four of them were left in a silence that was broken only by the fire crackling in the grate.

"Um… was it really such a good idea to let them go with Xahra-san?" Syaoran finally asked, looking a little worried for the lavender-eyed girl's sake.

"Don't worry about it, Syaoran-kun." He responded brightly, "I'm quite sure that any injuries the two of them inflict on Xahra-chan, the good doctor here would be able to sort out."

Sadly his words did little to reassure the brunette, but Syaoran's attention was immediately pulled away when Sakura deemed fit to fall asleep right where she sat.

"Sakura-hime!" The boy exclaimed, catching the girl before she hit the floor.

"Hmm… I guess Sakura-chan was a lot more tired than she looked." Fai said to ease the doctor's mounting concern. "You said you had a few rooms available that we could use?"

_**A/N: In case anyone is wondering, the doctor is Kyle Rondart but his name is Jekyll Trustmenot for now. The translation that I had of TRC manga gave his name as Hyde Londelus though the one my beta had said his name was Kyle Rondart since the very start. Anywho, since I didn't talk to my beta until after I had written this chapter I did not know of that and I figured that I could turn Mr Hyde into Dr. Jekyll. Who picked up on that while reading the story btw? *wink wink* **_

_**All rewrites of TRC that I have read so far with OCs in them usually have Fai and the OC pose as the couple with Fai being the one to claim that the girl is his fiancé when they get to Jade. I wanted my story to be different but at the same time, the notion of having a couple in this world was just… lets just say it opened up a world of possibilities. And no, not romantic. I am a strict KuroTomo shipper/supporter so I wont be breaking up that pairing anytime soon. Maddy being forced to pretend to be Kuro's fiancé is just for the purpose of adding some humor here. And it lets me poke fun at our favorite ninja too. I hope you guys enjoyed the update. **_

_**Next chapter, one of the group gets the shock of their lives when they come across someone they know in an alien world, Maddy and Kurogane give Xahra an earful, one of the group falls victim to a disease and the unfortunate and forced couple is thrown into an awkward position by one of the travelers and it is **_**not**_** Xahra. ;) ;) Keep an eye out for more theatrics and hilarity.**_

_**~Obsidian**_

_**P.S. Drop a review and lemme know how many of you are still following this fic. Despite my belated and random updates, I hope whoever is reading this is still enjoying the story.**_


	20. Jade: Congratulations, You're Married!

**_A/N: considering the fact that it has been a while since I last updated, I should probably do a quick recap for what has happened up until this point for everyone who is too lazy to go back to refresh their memories (which if you are anything like me would be most of you people ;P )_**

**_Madiha and Xahra, after having been spirited away to Yuuko's shop by a board game have ended up travelling with the others in order to finish the game and find a way back home. They have gotten to know the others a little better in the time they have spent together in Hanshin, Citadel and the world where they all changed genders. Now in a Victorian era-esque world of Jade, the group must all masquerade as a research/delivery party with Fai pretending to be the write of a book, Syaoran as his assistant, Sakura as his sister and Kurogane as the manservant who is actually a bodyguard engaged to be married to Maddy, courtesy of Xahra, Maddy's maidservant and Kurogane's sister._**

**_Having met with the not so accommodating landlord Mr. Kuerlson and the old mayor, Madiha, Xahra and Kurogane all head out to the landlord's estate to deliver the package Lady Pinnako had sent over for her sister while Fai, Sakura and Kurogane all settle in at the inn with Mokona safely hidden inside Sakura's cloak._**

**_And that covers the gist of the story up until this point. so now you can all go ahead and enjoy~_**

The ride to the landlord's estate did not take very long. The man remained civil with them, despite his initial mistrust of them all. He led them all to the foyer and told them to wait as he fetched the woman they wished to meet. Xahra heard Madiha give a shocked gasp when a little boy with curly brown hair raced into the foyer, followed by a woman who shared the boy's features. The girl herself could only gape at the woman who had her eyes trained on the little boy and had yet to notice them as she looked disapprovingly at the boy.

"Daniel, you have to take your medicine." The woman admonished the boy, holding a spoon in one hand and a bottle of some foul-smelling liquid in the other. The boy's cheeks were flushed, probably from a fever if the need for medicine was anything to go by. Daniel made a face at the woman before running further into the room to hide behind her best friend's legs.

"No! I don't wanna!" the boy yelled back at the woman, a pout causing his lips to pucker.

"Daniel-"she began to scold the boy before realizing they had company and catching herself. "Oh, I did not realize my brother had visitors. Forgive my manners." She said apologetically before offering a curtsy to them all. "I'm Maria Kuerlson."

-0-

The brunette girl's reaction to the woman's appearance was rather interesting to Kurogane. Shock, sadness and longing warred across the girl's face as she stared at the woman for a rather long time, causing the woman to look at her in concern.

"Are you alright, Miss?" she asked, taking a step in her direction before appearing to think better of it and staying where she was.

"Oh she's fine, Mrs. Kuerlson." The female equivalent of the annoying mage spoke up hurriedly as she stepped in front of the rest of them, hissing something like "that's not your mom, Maddy. Pull yourself together, please," to her friend when the woman turned her attention to the young boy who had been sneakily trying to run away before his mother caught him.

"Daniel Jacobson! Get back here this instant, young man." Maria ordered rather crossly and the boy had the grace to look sheepish as he made his way over to his mother. The woman fussed over him a little, forcing him to swallow the medicine before allowing him to be on his merry way, though her son kept on making disgusted faces at the taste even as he vanished through the doors. "Just Maria is fine, my dear." The woman said, flashing a smile at the two girls, " is my brother."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything." And the lavender-eyed girl was spewing apologies so fast Kurogane was surprised she had not yet paused to take a breath. Casting a glance at the brunette standing beside her, he noticed that she had managed to get her emotions back under control by now. From what Xahra had said, it was somewhat obvious that this woman was Jade's equivalent of her mother.

-0-

Passing the package to the old crone's sister did not take very long, though Maria did insist they all stay for a cup of tea and some refreshments before heading out into the cold. Talk had somehow strayed to the topic of the woman staying with her brother instead of her husband and after a bit of initial hesitance, Maria confided in them that her husband had passed away a few years back. Her brother had agreed to take her back in, but only if she took on her maiden name once again. Perhaps Mr. Kuerlson was not very fond of her deceased husband? Whatever the reason, it was rather hard for Madiha to imagine a life for her mother where her father was not by her side. Or where neither she, nor her elder brother, had ever been born. To think that she would never even know that she had another son and a daughter in another life…

The rest of the visit passed in a daze for Madiha and before long, they were heading back to the inn, the sun setting low in the trees as a slow shower of powdery flecks of snow began to descend from the overcast sky. Kurogane urged the horse on a little faster, Xahra keeping up a steady chatter all the way back, though Madiha tuned her out, lost in her thoughts. It was only once they stopped near the stables to tie up the horses that she emerged from her self-induced stupor, glaring at her friend when Xahra teased her about being too busy enjoying her fiancé's manly arms around her throughout the ride to talk to her best friend.

The doctor was still awake, waiting up for them while the rest of their companions had apparently retired to their rooms for the night after a quick supper.

When it came time to determine their sleeping arrangements, things grew awkward rather quickly.

"Miss Xahra will be rooming with Miss Sakura," the doctor said, showing her best friend to her room first before leading the remaining two travelers a little further, "and as Mister Fai had relayed on your husband's request while you were gone, a room for the married couple." Madiha felt her heart skip a beat at that as she gave an incredulous little laugh and weakly yelped, "What?"

"A room for the two of you," the doctor repeated as he opened the door and showed them inside, "is it not to your liking?"

"No, it's nothing like that," the girl said hurriedly, "the room is great, but-"

"It is?" the doctor grinned, cutting in before she could get in another word as he whirled around on his feet and hurried outside. "I won't keep you any longer then. Goodnight."And then he was gone, leaving Maddy to helplessly mumble out the rest, "-we're not married."

"I am gonna rip that little bastard limb from limb." The ninja exploded, his face red with fury.

"You're gonna rip him limb from limb?" Maddy rounded on him, her own cheeks flushing in anger. "Why the heck didn't you say anything to the stupid doctor? You should have told him we're not married!"

"You were telling him, weren't you?" the ninja huffed in response.

"Well, I could have used some _help_. He didn't even listen to me!" she wailed rather dramatically before sobering up almost instantaneously as she began pacing around the room, "You can have Fai's mangled body once I'm done hacking that bastard to tiny little pieces with a blunt spoon. Or a spork! I'll gouge out those stupid eyes of his and force-feed those to him while I chop off all his fingers one by one with a rusty, _blunt_ knife. I'll get an extra rusty one just for him, and maybe I can rip out all his hair and make a rope out of it and use it to choke the life out of him and then-" she stopped mid-rant when she realized the ninja was looking at her in a strange manner. "What?"

"If you do all that shit to him tomorrow," the Japanese man responded as he leaned against the closed door, "I think we might end up in trouble with the local authorities."

"Wow… Now I've seen everything." She said in mock-disbelief, slumping on the bed and half-sinking into the mattress, "seriously, Kurogane, it's not like I'm actually gonna do any of that stuff to him, even if it would be totally worth getting arrested for. I'm just imagining what I _would _have done had I been able to get away with it."

"So you're saying you would kill the mage with a _spork_-whatever the heck that is- if you could get away with it?" the ninja quirked a brow.

"I wish…"she responded, falling back on the bed with a sigh. "Oh, this mattress is so soft." She added in a pleased voice, "I had no idea they had such comfortable beds in this era." Maddy had her eyes closed, though she could hear the rustle of Kurogane's clothes. The ninja was probably taking off his overcoat to get a little more comfortable. "Pretend fiancé or fake husband or not," she said hurriedly as she shot upright, "just know that I am _not_ sleeping the same bed as you."

"You're welcome to have the floor then." The ninja replied nonchalantly as he began taking off his boots.

"Excuse me?"her jaw must have dropped about four feet to crash into the floor as she stared at the man in disbelief. Did he just say that? "You're a _guy!_ You're supposed to be the one who takes the floor or is chivalry really dead in this world!?"

"Me?" the man shot back a little hotly as he dumped his jacket on the high-backed chintz armchair that was placed next to a nearly empty bookrack. "All the women I've ever known in my life have always harped on about equality and shit. Besides, I don't really care if you sleep on the floor or not but I'm not sleeping on the floor when it's freezing outside." And with that final word, the ninja crossed the room and took the unoccupied side of the queen-sized bed. Glaring at the ninja, she rose to her feet and crossed the room to the armchair. Throwing his overcoat onto his face, she settled into the seat for an uncomfortable night.

"I'd rather sleep on the chair." She huffed irritably as she tried to get comfortable, something which proved to be impossible thanks to the corset squeezing her lungs.

-0-

Kurogane had barely closed his eyes to sleep when he heard the brunette let out a frustrated scream. Cracking an eye open, he saw her tugging rather violently at the strings that were tied at the back of the corset. Wondering if the girl was a little touched in the head to be taking her anger out on an article of clothing, he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Even with his eyes closed, he knew the girl was pulling her corset off and from the direction of the dull thud it made, she had flung it at the wall.

"I can't decide who's worse. Fai for getting me stuck in this position in the first place, or you for hogging up the entire bed." She muttered angrily only a little while later. Cracking his eyes open once again, the ninja quirked a brow at her.

"I said I don't care if you sleep on the floor or the bed."

"That's not the point!" the brunette huffed as a few blessed moments of silence passed. Kurogane figured she had nothing else to add to the conversation so he closed his eyes yet again. "Fine." He heard the girl say as she clambered off the arm-chair, causing him to smirk just a fraction, "I'll sleep on the bed. But if you try anything sneaky, I'll chop off _your _fingers with a rusty knife instead of Fai's."

"As if I'd _want_ to do something to a kid like you."He shot back indignantly, bristling at the thought of the girl insinuating what she just had as she perched on the other side of the bed.

"You're not exactly all that big yourself, you know." She replied heatedly, though Kurogane did not deem it necessary to look at what she was doing now. He could hear the rustle of fabric, though, so she was probably fiddling around with her shawl or something. "And I'm not a kid. You're like, what, four years older than me?"

"Depends on what your own age is." He responded with a shrug.

"I'm gonna be nineteen in a few months."

"I'm twenty-four."

"Okay, so five years. Still doesn't make me a kid."

"Does to me."

"Whatever. Listen, I've divided the bed into your side and my side with my shawl so that we both know not to cross into the other's side at night. You try _anything_ at all and I'm chopping off your fingers."

"For the last time, I don't even _want_ to do anything to you." The ninja growled in exasperation as he glared at the girl, "will you stop insinuating things that make me sound like a perverted rapist? I don't make it a habit of going about preying on irritating brats in the middle of the night."

"So long as you stay on your side of the bed." The brunette replied uncaringly as she lay down and pulled up the covers over her, turning her back to him as she did so."And I'm _not_ a brat."

-0-

"Hey, Kurogane?" He had nearly fallen asleep when he heard the girl speak up in a rather hesitant manner.

Not really wanting to talk, he merely hummed in response.

"I was wondering…" she said, before trailing off. Kurogane waited for a couple of minutes before grunting in irritation once again to tell the girl to hurry along. She heaved a tired sigh before he felt her shift, "never mind. It's stupid. Good night."

"If you've got something to say, you should say it." He finally said, internally wondering why in the world he wasn't going to sleep when it was clear that the Kami had provided him with an easy way out of having a discussion about who knows what with the brat.

"I was wondering, what would you do if you were to come across your mom in one of these worlds we go to?" Suddenly, all tiredness seemed to vanish from his mind as he thought about his mother.

_Blood spilling on the lavender eyes.A curtain of silken hair. Falling fallingfalling…_

_"_I mean, she'd be a totally different person than the one you grew up with, right?" She'd probably taken his silence as her cue to keep on talking, "And it's not like she would know who you are unless you're her son in that world too, which would be really weird in that case since it would get confusing and-"

"Is this about you seeing your mother here?" he cut in as he finally turned over to face the girl. Even in the dark he could easily make out the faint outline of her face and her open eyes.

"Maybe…"Kurogane quirked a brow at that but it probably wasn't visible in the darkened room. "It's just… she looked at me like she didn't even _know_ me."

"It's like that witch and your friend said, kid." He sighed tiredly, trying not to think about shrines with pools of blood and torn roofs and blank, lifeless lavender eyes, "She's not your mother. Stop thinking about it."

"I can't." she admitted quietly, "every time I close my eyes, all I can see is her sad face. She's living a life without my father. And she…she didn't even have me or Danish…" she added the last part in an almost lost voice.

"Look, Kid, I know my words aren't exactly going to sound very comforting, but," he paused, trying to think about how he could word it right. He might be all about speaking his mind, but even he wasn't cruel enough to tell a confused girl who had suddenly realized the enormity of her situation to pull her act together and just deal with it. "That woman was _not _your mother. She may have the same face and soul, but she's different from the one that brought you up. It's entirely possible that the man she married in this world is not even the same as your father." The girl seemed to ponder over this for quite a while before giving a slow nod. "Good. Now that that's settled, can we go to sleep? I'm pretty sure the mage will start make stupid innuendos at breakfast if we're yawning at the table and I for one don't really want a headache that early in the morning."

"Okay." Only three minutes had passed by before she was speaking again and Kurogane was just about ready to give up on getting any sleep that night. "You told Yuuko you really want to go back home. Do you have someone waiting for you?"

"You know about my mom now," she said when he refused to say anything in return, "and I'm pretty sure Xahra has told you about my brother, too. So you know a lot more about me than I know about you. Isn't it only fair?"

"Will it get you to shut up and let me sleep?" he grumbled irritably.

"Maybe. But if you don't tell me," she added in a sly whisper, "I'm gonna do my level best to keep you up _all night long_."

"Yes." He grunted in the end.

"Yes? That's it?" she shot back flatly. "That's all the answer I'm gonna get?"

"I'm not gonna start sharing my entire life's story with you." He couldn't help but growl now.

"I'm not interested in your life's story. I just want a few details about your love life."

"Why?"

"Because I can't sleep thanks to you lying in my bed. And it's just as good a way as any to pass the time."

"Go to sleep, Kid."

"If you don't tell me, I'm gonna start singing. And just to let you know, I'm a very horrible singer." And then, to prove her point, she began belting out the lyrics to some very bizarre love song.

"How does she know you love her? How do you show her you love her?" Kurogane swore it felt like his ears would start bleeding if she kept it up for much longer, though he was quite sure she was singing that badly on purpose. It showed in the gleeful gleam in her eye.

In all the time he had known her, which probably wasn't more than a couple of weeks by now- but the ninja prided himself in being able to judge a person's character within the very first hour of meeting them-he had never actually expected the hotheaded brunette to act so silly. He'd have been less surprised if her friend had been the one to pull a stunt like this, but here he was, being proven wrong. Maybe it had something to do with being a teenage girl? Tomoyo certainly had been just as unpredictable back home during certain times of the month.

"How does she know that you really, really, truly love her?"she shrieked and for a moment the ninja grew worried that someone might come banging on the door asking if he was trying to murder her with a spork or whatever it was that she had threatened him with earlier. Thankfully, though, no one came and her horrible singing continued, "How does she know that you love her? How do you show her you love her? How does she know that you really, really truly love her?"

"She doesn't, alright?" he could help but explode, shutting the brunette up for a total of five blessedly-peaceful seconds where he could actually hear himself think. And then she opened her mouth and he wondered if maybe it might have been a wiser choice to go sleep on the floor himself, winter night be damned.

"What do you mean she doesn't?"

"It means exactly what I said." He grunted irritably, finally turning around to glower at the girl. "Now will you shut the hell up and go to sleep or do I have to tie you up and gag to you get some peace and quiet?"

"So you haven't confessed till now, is that it?" she asked excitedly, pretending she hadn't heard what he had just said. Had there been a wall next to him, Kurogane would have been banging his head against it by now. In fact, the warrior was sorely tempted to go bang his head against one right then, even if it meant he'd have to get out of the warm bed.

"You're worse than the mage and Tomoyo combined." He groaned, turning his back to her one more time

"I will take that as a 'yes', then. So why haven't you told her?"she pushed on, "What's her name? What's she like?"

"I'm not answering those, kid. Just fucking go to sleep already."

"Toyomo… is that her?" he nearly flinched at the bastardization of the Tsukuyomi's name, "She's your princess, right? The one that banished you? What did you do to piss her off so much? I bet she banished you because she couldn't stand you acting like a lovestruck fool around her without actually working up the guts to confess."

"It's _Tomoyo,_ and she banished me because I killed far too many assassins that tried to kill her." He grumbled, internally wondering if he had ever done something to embarrass himself in front of the princess. He was quite sure he had always been calm and collected and alert around her, trying not to stare at the way the sunlight would sometimes reflect off of her hair when she'd have tea with her sister in the gardens around noon. As he thought about her, he couldn't help but remember the way her eyes would light up with joy whenever she was happy or the way magic would whip about her robes and hair whenever she performed a powerful spell.

And as he thought about her, he couldn't help but remember the sadness in her gaze and the nearly-broken smile on her lips as she had cast her curse on him, the slight wetness of her eyes as she had watched the ground swallow him up as she had sent him on this meaningless journey. Why had she done that? She had said that he needed to learn the true meaning of strength as she had cast him away, but he already knew the meaning of strength. It was power. It was being strong. It was being good enough at what you did that no one and nothing could stand in your way. That was what strength was. And that was what he had. So then… why did she send him away?

"Oh…" the brunette responded solemnly. He turned to find her scrutinizing his face rather closely. "I'm actually not sure what I should say to that." she said honestly. "I guess it's gotta be tough, right? Being sent away because you were doing your job a little too well. It's strange, now that I think about it… you're an assassin. Fai is a magician, Sleeping Beauty is a princess and Syaoran is an archeologist in the making. You four are like the perfect characters out of a fairytale. And then there's me and Xahra. Misfits in a group of misfits. And to think I'm sharing a bed with the deadliest of them all and pretending to be married to him, to boot." She chuckled a little, "You know… killing Fai at the breakfast table sounds so tempting right," a yawn broke her words, "now… guess I'm finally sleepy. Goodnight, Kurogane." And with that, she turned on her side, pulled the covers over her shoulder and settled in for the night.

Thanking the heavens that the ordeal was finally over, the ninja closed his eyes but sleep evaded him till the early morning light broke across the horizon. And even when he succumbed to sleep, his dreams were plagued by images of light fading from lavender eyes, burning shrines, a little girl crying and broken porcelain dolls.

-0-

_The village was burning all around her, children screaming as they were pulled along by scared mothers. Bodies fell right and left as monsters with glowering, inhuman eyes and stinking breath tore through young, old, women, children and men alike. Bones crunching, flesh ripping, dying screams, angry growls, clashing metal and battle cries created a morbid symphony of death. She had no idea why she was there or even where the place was, but of their own accord, her feet carried her through the dream, her body passing through the monsters and the humans making up her dream like a wraith until she found herself climbing up the steps of a shrine. It was the only place that had yet to be touched by death as something invisible seemed to push the monsters away every time they tried to reach it._

_Her gaze flitted over her shoulder to the place where a proud warrior with burning crimson eyes and a dragon-hilted sword was slashing up the monsters left, right and center. On his right forearm was a tattoo of a black dragon, a symbol of protection for the people, though she did not know how she knew that. Turning her attention back to the shrine, she noticed women and children huddled in the safety of the barriers provided by the shrine as they watched the carnage through scared, bloodshot eyes, tears streaming down their faces as their fathers, brothers and sons fought against the invading monsters. _

_"Mother!" she heard a young boy scream from inside the shrine at the same time as she saw a burst of light erupt from the shrine in a circular disk, slicing through the monsters nearest to it before someone screamed, "The barrier has fallen!" Chaos surrounded her once again as her feet automatically began carrying her through the suddenly-panicking women and children. She passed through the wooden doors and emerged in a narrow hallway, somehow knowing exactly where to go as she arrived at the entrance of what appeared to be some sacred prayer chamber. A woman's body lay in the arms of a young boy, his looks the spitting image of the warrior with the dragon tattoo if only many years younger. Tears spilled down his face as he looked at the woman, the light slowly fading away from her familiar-looking lavender eyes, a tiny girl with features just like the woman's appearing at the door right beside Madiha. For the briefest of moments the girl looked at her, her gaze curious even if she appeared scared of all that was happening around her. _

_Madiha could not seem to tear herself away from the girl, a strange whistling sound surrounding her, drowning out the last words of the dying woman before the roof was being ripped off by a monster that was chewing on a severed arm with a dragon tattoo that still clutched on to a blood-stained silver sword. The girl was screaming as wreckage rained all around them, a wooden beam falling right on top of Madiha as the girl stumbled out of the way just as the boy let out an enraged roar and grabbed the fallen sword. More monsters appeared as the shrine was ripped apart by their claws, one monster slicing right through Madiha and surprisingly enough launching her into complete darkness._

Madiha woke to the sound of knocking at the door. For a moment, staying where she was, the brunette tried to recall exactly where she was before she looked over at the man sleeping beside her on the bed on the other side of her shawl. Grumbling irritably to herself, the girl climbed out of the bed, approaching the door with a grumpy expression on her face before she peeked outside. She came face to face with Dr. Jekyll, his hand poised to knock once again before he saw her and stopped.

"Ah, Mrs. Kurogane, good morning." The man said, pushing back his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he offered her a smile. The brunette internally cringed at the thought of being married to the red-eyed man who insisted on calling her a kid. Honestly, a five year difference did_not_ make her a child. "I hope you and your husband had a good night. I just came to tell you that breakfast is ready and-"

"My daughter!" a wail cut the doctor off in mid-sentence. "My daughter is gone!" a woman cried out in the streets, causing the doctor to pale before he whirled on his feet and raced towards the stairs. Hurriedly grabbing her shawl, Maddy made to follow, the now-awake ninja coming up behind her as they met up with the rest of their companions near the top of the stairs. Maddy hurriedly took in the appearances of the others and noticed Fai, Sakura and Syaoran, all seemingly dressed and ready for the day though Xahrawas stumbling along behind them with flushed cheeks and rather watery eyes. She cast a glance over her shoulder at the ninja and to her irritation, even the red-eyed man appeared more presentable than her, even though he had probably just jumped out of the bed and hurried out right after her.

They made it to the door of the inn where a crowd seemed to have gathered by now, a harassed-looking woman clutching on to a stuffed black cat that she had spotted a little girl holding the previous day when they had first arrived at the village. Did this mean that the girl that was missing was her daughter?

"Did you lock the door?" the loud man from the previous day was interrogating the woman, "was it forced open? Did someone take the child from your home?"

"No," the woman shook her head, trying to stifle her sobs as she continued, "the door was opened from the inside, but my daughter would not do that. I told her not to open the door."

"Is it true that the golden-haired princess took the girl?" Someone asked from the crowd of onlookers. Maddy nearly rolled her eyes at the superstitious lot before Sakura drew her attention away as she worriedly looked at Syaoran.

"Last night," she said, hesitating for the briefest of moments before continuing, "Umm… I think I saw the princess last night. Out in the snow. There were black birds following her." Madiha wasn't the only one who heard her declaration as the loud man whirled around on her, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he yelled accusingly. "What did you say?" Syaoran stepped in front of the girl protectively, a firm scowl settled on his face as he met the man's glare.

"These people did not leave the inn last night," the doctor spoke up before things could escalate. That was the moment Mr. Kuerlson and the mayor arrived as well, the landlord scowling in distaste as he eyed the crowd assembled before he turned his attention towards the doctor. "Are you sure they remained inside?"

"My room is located right beside the only exit in the inn and I did not hear anyone leave last night…Well, I must admit, I do remember hearing someone sing last..." he added with a confused frown, eyeing the group as he said this before turning his attention back towards the landlord and the mayor, "well... I _think_ they were singing... or maybe they were just being choked to death?" He scratched his head with a sheepish grin as he looked at the loud moron, "you haven't found any dead bodies nearby, have you?"

"It's true, then," the woman wailed in despair, "the golden-haired princess took my daughter."

"Standing around accusing people won't help anyone," the mayor interjected before the hotheaded, loud moron could start pointing fingers at the travelers again, "we need to search for the missing children. Come on, let's not waste anymore time." Slowly, the crowd began to disperse, most of the villagers shooting mistrustful glares at the travelers before following after the aged man.

"Well… Ahem," Dr. Jekyll cleared his throat, "I guess we should all head back inside. Breakfast is ready."

**_A/N: I hope you had fun reading this update guys because I did have fun writing it out. I'd just like to ask whoever is actually still reading this fic to please drop me a review because it seems like pretty much all of my readers have suddenly just vanished into thin air… seriously guys, where are you? And is anyone still reading this thing? Or any of my other fics. Apart from two or three regular readers (who're also my friends so they don't count because they HAVE to read it anyways) I have no idea who else is still following my stories so please guys, tell me if you like this, yell at me if you hate this but do drop me a review. My plunnies are really suffering and it's kinda getting hard to get out the chapters without the motivation…_**

**_Till next time._**


	21. Jade: Sickness, Nightmares and Flirts

**_A/N: And the next update is much quicker than the last one. You can thank my dear friends pseudo-quill for forcing me to get this written out and my awesome beta talkstoangels77 for getting this edited in record time. And also a big fat thank you with lots of virtual cookies for everyone who reviewed and let me know they've still stuck by this fic after all this time. You all are awesome! _**

**_Now enjoy~_**

Breakfast passed without further commotion or excitement since the doctor had decided to grace them all with his presence, inquiring about Sakura's vision of the golden-haired princess. The green-eyed girl admitted to having seen the princess in the streets the night before, but she had not seen the child leave with her. Xahra poked at her food, trying not to throw up as her head pounded, the cold air nipping at her exposed face despite the fire roaring in the fireplace. The discussion moved on to the legend of the princess and what had happened three hundred years ago, though she could not keep her attention focused on the conversation for long. With a groan, she dropped the spoon and pushed her plate away, dropping her head down on her folded arms.

She did not know when she fell asleep, the doctor telling the others about the book with all of Jade's history somewhere nearby, but she was woken from her dreamless sleep by someone shaking her shoulder. She groaned, looking up to find Maddy's worried face hovering nearby.

"What did you say?"she croaked, her voice coming out scratchy and hoarse though she felt too miserable to actually care about it.

"You don't look so good," the brunette responded, her hand coming up to touch her forehead before pulling away with a flinch. "You're burning up."

"I feel cold." She admitted, letting her head drop back on the wooden table.

"You have a fever." She felt her friend tug at her arm. "Come on, we need to put you to bed."

"Go away." She groaned, "Leave me alone to die in my misery."

"Quit being such a drama queen, Xahra." She could almost picture Maddy rolling her eyes as she said that before the tugging grew insistent. "Get up. It won't do you any good to you keep sitting at the table."

"What's wrong?" she heard Kurogane inquire as the warrior's footsteps approached them.

"She's sick." Xahra heard the worry in her friend's tone as she answered the ninja. Maybe she looked as bad as she felt for her friend to be this anxious over her.

"We've got a healer living right with us," the ninja responded calmly, "you're acting like she's going to die."

"I definitely feel that way." Xahra interjected weakly.

Strong arms lifted her off the table before she was being slung over Kurogane's shoulder, a pained groan escaping her lips as her throbbing head protested against the movement.

"Fetch the doctor; I'll put her to bed." The warrior ordered her best friend before he began walking, nausea clawing its way up her throat with each step he took.

Thankfully, before she could proceed to empty her stomach, she was being laid on the bed she had occupied the previous night, the princess waiting for them already, worriedly flittering about her as Kurogane pulled the quilt over her shuddering frame.

"She'll be fine. She's just got a fever." He assured the princess just as Maddy returned with the doctor and the rest of their party in tow.

"Oh dear," the doctor exclaimed as he approached her bedside, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose as he pulled a chair next to her bed. "It would appear your sister has measles. There's an epidemic going on with the children in town, which is why I have been making so many visits around the village."

"Symptoms for measles don't develop so fast…" she croaked.

"What are you talking about, Miss Xahra?" the man chuckled in response, "of course they do. Although it takes longer for the symptoms to show in children but everyone knows they develop faster in adults who have never had them before."

"My death will be quick and painless, right?"

"Miss Xahra, measles are not fatal." The doctor assured her as he pulled out a thermometer from his back and stuck it under her tongue. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you all to leave the room while I perform an examination on Miss Xahra."

"What? Why?" Madiha protested.

"Doctor-patient privacy. I'm afraid your presence might make her hesitant to answer some of my questions." He responded evenly, as though he was used to being asked that question on a regular basis. There was some grumbling before everyone proceeded to vacate the room just as the doctor returned his attention to her, taking in the reading on the thermometer as he extracted it from her mouth before putting it away. Taking off his glasses, he smiled at her, his eyes appearing to shimmer before her as an odd blankness began to take over her mind.

-0-

Madiha had opted to stay behind to look after her sick friend while Syaoran and the others had decided to head out to get the book on Jade's history from the mayor. Doctor Jekyll had admitted that the landlord possessed another copy of the book but the man refused to lend the book to anyone else which was why it would be best if they asked for the Mayor's copy. Something about the way he had said the part about Mr. Kuerlson refusing to loan out his book made Syaoran think the doctor spoke from personal experience, though he couldn't quite understand why the doctor would have wanted the book.

Fai inquired about his interest in history as they made their way over to the mayor's house, their horses snorting in the cold as they clip-clopped their way across the snow. Syaoran suspected their mode of transport might have been another reason behind Madiha's refusal to come along. He admitted that he enjoyed learning about the history of all the places he had visited with his father, this one being another indulgence of sorts, though he had another reason for wanting to check the book out. He wanted to read the original legend about the princess, to confirm for himself that the feather that they were chasing after was indeed Sakura's and if the golden-haired princess's intentions had indeed been as malicious as the townsfolk had claimed them to be. In all his travels with his father, if there was one thing Syaoran had learnt, it was that things were never what they appeared to be. Taking what they heard at face value would be an amateur's mistake and it never hurt to do a bit of independent research.

Presenting the same excuse to the maids at the mayor's home as the one that they had given to the townspeople the previous day, they were led to the parlor where the aged mayor joined them after a short wait. The man admitted to things being just as bad as they had been three hundred years ago with the crops failing and children falling sick as an epidemic swept through the lands. The same was happening now, with children disappearing in quick succession. The mayor was eager to share his troubles with them, answering all their questions about how the children had begun disappearing a couple of months back, even though their parents had warned them not to go out with strangers after dark.

The perpetrator never left behind any clues and it was almost as if the children had vanished into thin air.

"After you are finished with your research on the princess's legend," the mayor said, looking at their group imploringly, "you must leave town. The people are already very worried about the missing children. A group of strangers appearing out of nowhere in these troubled times does not sit well with many. I do not wish you any harm, so please leave as soon as you finish that book."

Agreeing to the mayor's conditions, even if none of them had any intentions of following through with that promise until they located Sakura's feather, Syaoran took the book, thanking the mayor for his kindness as they left. Once again climbing on to his horse's back, Syaoran flicked the book open, reading through the passages eagerly as Sakura was helped onto Fai's horse. Absently guiding his horse towards the north, the brunette soaked in all the information the book had to offer, ducking down under random branches almost on instinct as their rides trotted along the snow-covered road.

Fai was rather amazed by Syaoran's skill, something which had become almost like second nature to the brunette by now. Syaoran wasn't quite sure why the blond would be so astonished by something like that. but apparently riding a horse while reading a book and avoiding all possible obstacles at the same time was a very big deal. Frowning to himself as he noticed a page torn from the book, Syaoran finally looked up, his gaze settling on the crumbling ruins of the once-magnificent castle, momentarily taking his breath away. The archeologist in him wanted to cross the raging river and study the building up close, but that seemed almost impossible to do with the frothing water that separated the castle from the nearby town. He could spot the remains of a broken bridge in the distance but it was obvious there would be no way to cross the river.

Searching around and unable to find any other ways to cross the river, they gave up, deciding that there was no way for the kidnapper to bring the children across the river in such cold weather without catching their own death. As they made their way through the nearly-overgrown path, they discovered the landlord making his way through the forest towards the castle on his own horse, though the man did not notice them as he determinedly rode by them. It was rather strange for the landlord to be going in that direction, but Syaoran dismissed the occurrence as the man searching for clues on his own.

They hurried back to the village as the sun began to set over the horizon. They came across Dr. Jekyll just as he was returning from visiting his patients. Together, the group returned to the inn for some warm supper before gathering in the sitting area to discuss all that they had discovered over the course of the day. Dr. Jekyll was eager to offer his help to find the missing children as Syaoran relayed all that he had found to the doctor and Madiha who had finally left her friend's side to join them in their discussion. She was the one to voice the thought that maybe Mr. Kuerlson was somehow involved with the missing children, even though Syaoran knew everyone was thinking that at some point. The others began discussing how the landlord could have gone about pulling off such a feat, though Syaoran himself was hesitant to share any of the theories that were forming in his head. Something about the whole situation just didn't seem to add up.

-0-

Maddy stifled a yawn as she climbed up the stairs, her feet taking her to Xahra's room instead of the one she was sharing with her 'husband'. She knocked on the door once, hearing the princess's affirmation to enter before pushing on the wood and stepping inside. Xahra was finally awake, sipping on some clear broth, her stomach too upset to be able to handle anything else. Her whole body was covered in bright red boils and for some reason the sight was suddenly hilarious to the brunette, though her best friend did not hesitate to glower at her when Madiha burst into a fit of laughter.

"You look ridiculous!" She couldn't help but exclaim as she approached her friend. Xahra merely huffed in response as she dipped her spoon into the broth and brought it to her lips. "Are you going to start ignoring me now?" Xahra pretended not to hear her, "Oh, come on, Xahra, I was merely joking. Well, no actually, I was kinda serious when I said you look ridiculous but that's beside the point. You can't get mad at me for something like that when you're the one making fun of me all the time. Not to mention the fact that now that you're sick, I can't even get angry at you for the stupid stunt you pulled with Kurogane yesterday. I mean, really… did you _have _to say I was his fiancé?"

"Well, you did make me your servant." She shot back indignantly.

"Because you wouldn't stop teasing me about Fai!" Maddy cried. "Hey, Sakura, tell her how I was completely justified in having my revenge when I made her my servant."

"And could you please tell her that I was justified in engaging her to Kurogane _because_ she made me her servant."

"Xahra-san, Maddy-san, I, umm…" the girl trailed off helplessly, looking between the two friends like a deer caught in headlights. "Umm…"

"Is this the thanks I'm going to get for spending the whole day by your sickbed?" Madiha rounded back to her friend. "I mean, I didn't go out with the others to look around the town because of you, and now that I've come to check up on you because I'm _worried_ about you, you start arguing with me over the fact that you weren't wrong, even though we both know that you were."

"Well, I wouldn't know if you were here or not because I was sleeping and I was _not _wrong. You were!" the raven-head replied, "and besides, everybody knows that the only reason that you did not go with them was because they would probably ride on the horses."

"For the last time, Xahra, I'm _not _scared of horses." She climbed to her feet, "and you know what, I think spending time with my dear, not-so-sweet and very, very grumpy fake husband would be a hundred times better than sitting here and listening to you accuse me of such horrendous lies. Good day to you."

"Maddy, you do realize it's night time, don't you?"Xahra responded with an amused quirk of her eye.

"I said good day to you!" she declared in fake anger as she whirled around on her heels and began marching towards the door, "I prefer my husband's company to yours at the moment." Stopping by the door, she turned to smile at the gaping princess, "Good night, Sleeping Beauty. Could you keep an eye on that idiot for me tonight? Even though Dr. Jekyll says there's nothing to worry about what with all the medicines he's prescribed her and whatnot, it'd still be good if there's someone around when she's sick."

"Good night, Maddy-san," the princess let out a relieved sigh as she seemed to realize their fight had not been serious at all, "Of course, I will be here all night."

"Just make sure you get some rest too, okay? We don't want to worry Syaoran dearest if you come downstairs resembling the walking dead in the morning, do we?" she smirked as the princess blushed at the mention of the brunette. Giving her a wave over her shoulder, she then made her way back to her room, stifling another yawn as she took off her shoes and climbed under the covers.

-0-

Sakura woke to the feeling of cold wind biting at her face. Rubbing at her eyes sleepily, the girl sat up, her gaze automatically flickering to her roommate's bed only to jolt wide awake when she realized that the bed was empty. Hurriedly pushing off the bedcovers, she frantically looked around the room, her sight freezing at the open window through which tiny white flecks of what appeared to be snow were floating inside. Wondering if this was the first time she was seeing snowfall, she cautiously approached the window. She lived in a desert country, but she had not yet retrieved all of her memories. It was entirely possible that she might have travelled to some country where it snowed, but she just couldn't remember now. Or maybe she had always remained in Clow and never seen snow before. A creak came from outside, causing the princess to peek out of the window, her eyes widening at the sight of Xahra clambering down the leafless branches of the tree that grew right outside the window.

"Xahra-san, what are you doing?" she called out, feeling worried for the older girl's well-being and wondering why in the world she was heading out into the cold in the first place, especially when she was already unwell. Her attention was suddenly drawn away from the raven-head towards the bright light that suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

"The Golden-Haired Princess?" she couldn't help but gasp. Sure enough, the apparition of a beautiful princess with flowing locks of spun gold, dressed in an elaborate dress that seemed quite out of fashion in that world, was smiling up at her. Black birds flew around her in restless circles as, one by one, children slowly began to appear from their homes. "I should get the others." Sakura decided, turning on her heel to hurry out the door before freezing in her footsteps. "It's snowing… what if by the time I get the others they're already too far out for us to track. And I promised Maddy-san that I would look after Xahra-san… and all those children… they're following after the princess." She hurried back to the window, her eyes catching sight of the last of the children vanishing around a bend up ahead on the street. "At this rate, I'll definitely lose them."

Deciding that maybe she could follow after the children and then return to get the others once she found out where they all were, Sakura climbed on top of the windowsill before carefully leaping onto the branch that was closest to the window with a small shriek. Struggling to keep her hold on the branch, she tried to clamber onto it. She'd be of no use to anyone if she fell. Gritting her teeth in determination, Sakura pulled her body over the branch before beginning her carefully but hurried descent down the tree. She had to catch up with the children and Xahra.

-0-

_He was running as fast as his feet could carry him, using a burst of magic to force his body to move even faster. His heart shuddered inside his throat, fear sinking its claws into his gut and twisting rather viciously as he thought over the report he had received upon his arrival to the castle. The beast had been sighted in the Western mountain range, mere hours ago. And she had responded to the distress call on her own. She was a C-rank witch and she had gone on ahead to take on the beast on her own without even so much as waiting for back up! Oh, the trouble she was going to be in when he found her, because he _was _going to find her. And then she was going to receive the scolding of her life before he set her up with the most mundane of tasks as punishment. How dare she break protocol _again_ and leave on her own? _

_She was supposed to stay safe, damn it! What if…what if something happened to her? No! That was impossible. She had probably scared the beast away by now and was probably looking around the village for survivors. Yes, that was why she had not returned to the castle till now. She was fine and he was getting all worked up over nothing. His heart skipped a beat as he arrived at the village, the fires dying out in the crumbling ruins of what had apparently been a thriving village up until a few hours ago. Trying not to stare at the carnage as torn limbs littered the crimson-stained snow that had turned to a dark, sticky mess thanks to the ash now raining from the sky, Fai searched around for nearby magical signals. He could easily detect her magic in the air, the residue of the powerful spells she had cast, some protective, others offensive but there was no sign of her anywhere._

_Something painful squeezed his heart as he walked through the destroyed village, gaze searching for some sign, _any_ sign that she wasn't there, that that was why he had not sensed her. That he was probably just worrying over nothing. He reached the end of the village, heaving a sigh of relief when he did not find her body amongst the dead villagers, just about ready to turn and return to the castle when he spotted it, the metal gleaming in the light of the slowly-descending sun, the staff dented and bent in a bizarre looking L, the crimson stone that powered the magical object completely shattered and littering the snow in broken shards that made a mockery of the blood spilt all over the village. The ground seemed to slip right from underneath his feet as he stared at her staff for nearly an eternity before he was tearing through the streets, screaming out her name like a madman._

_He found her body draped in the arms of the statue of village's local god of protection, making a joke out of everything the villagers had believed in. Unable to contain the choked sobs that formed in his throat, he staggered to the statue, noticing the odd angle at which her neck hung over the arm, white bone peeking through the torn flesh of her right leg as blood continued to slowly drip from her limp fingers to form a crimson puddle at the statue's feet. The beast had used magic to ensure her body would not freeze in the sub-zero temperatures. Her eyes were wide open, staring sightlessly at nothing at all, a gaping hole in her chest right where her heart was supposed to be. He pulled her into his arms with shaking hands, something inside him shattering and breaking as he laid down her still-warm body._

_Calling out her name through trembling lips, he caressed her cheek, softly pleading for her to answer him. He asked again and again but she never did. Her blood stained his white coat, getting soaked up in the fur lining his sleeves as he pulled her limp form to himself, an animalistic cry ripping itself from him as his magic went wild and began escaping from him in wild torrents of dark, spiraling patterns that slowly began to eat away at the world around him. A familiar hand landed on his shoulder, bringing him back to himself as he realized what he was doing and reigned his magic back in, his devastated gaze rising up to meet the sad one of Ashura-ou._

_"I'll kill it." He swore viciously, "The thing that did this. I'll destroy it."_

_The king offered him a sad smile that suddenly did not feel enough, "I'm sure you will, Fai."_

The blonde's eyes snapped open, the nearly-choking covers of the pillow pressing against his face. Carefully pushing away from the bed, he risked a glance in his roommate's direction, only to find the brunette sleeping the night away. It was only the sound of his soft snores that assured Fai that the boy was still alive and not dead, though he appeared to be still enough. The dream still fresh in his memory, Fai swung his legs over the side of the bed, deciding that it might be best if he just left the room. Syaoran looked far too…dead, even if he wasn't. He did not need any more reminders. Quietly making his way out of the room, he proceeded to head downstairs. He was quite sure there was a fire merrily cracking away in the main sitting area of the inn.

Feeding a couple of logs into the fireplace, he sunk into the armchair place before it, trying and miserably failing to keep his thoughts from returning to the past. He had failed to keep his promise to her. He had failed to kill the beast…

-0-

Maddy was woken from her peaceful slumber by a girlish shriek. Dismissing it as a dream, she turned on her side to return to sleep before she heard the sound of a door being closed nearby. Feeling curious about who might be up at that hour of the night, she pushed back the covers and pulled on her shoes, carefully making her way across the room and hoping she wouldn't wake the ninja as she left.

Silently closing the door behind her, she spied a mop of blond hair vanishing around the corner in the direction of the stairs. Why in the world would Fai be awake at this time? She hadn't had a chance to give the blond a piece of her mind all through the day and now the man seemed to have unknowingly presented the perfect opportunity for her to let her displeasure at her current sleeping arrangements known to him. Deciding that she wasn't sleepy enough to miss out on this perfect opportunity, she followed him down the stairs.

She found him sitting in an armchair by the fire, his gaze pensive and his face devoid of the near-constant smile he had plastered on his face up until that point in their journey. Ducking back into the shadows, Maddy peeked out to observe the blond in his moment of inattention. His expression appeared rather melancholic, a touch of guilt and regret coloring the whole thing as the firelight danced across his pale features. He appeared to be in deep thought, and for some reason Maddy felt like she was intruding on something very private. Thinking better of the rant she had planned for the blond, she slowly retreated back up the stairs, cursing to the heavens high when a loose floorboard creaked loudly under her foot.

"Maddy-chan?" she heard the blond say in surprise, forcing her to abandon her plan of retreating quietly as she turned around to face the man with a sheepish grin.

"Hey there, Fai." She said, scratching the back of her head as she met his gaze, the shutters suddenly back in full force as his customary smile was also plastered in place. "What are you doing up so late? I just came down because I couldn't sleep but then I saw you sitting by the fire and you seemed to be having a private moment so I decided I should probably head back up but then the floorboard creaked and well…there goes that plan."

"You're welcome to join me if you wish." He offered pleasantly, gesturing at the sofa with one hand.

"You sure?" she asked hesitantly, "I can totally leave if you want."

"A little company might be nice." He replied with a nod.

"Well… It's your funeral." She warned him, walking towards the proffered seat as she looked at him, "Don't say I didn't give you a way out of this later on."

"What do you mean, Maddy-chan?"

"What I mean is _how in the world did you decide it would be a good idea to tell the doctor I'm married to _Kurogane_ of all people!?"_she hissed in a near shriek, trying not to wake anyone up with her screaming as she recalled the doctor's words about having his quarters near the entrance which was only down the hall from the room they were in. "It was bad enough that Xahra decided that we're engaged, but for you to start saying that we wanted to share a room?! Seriously, Fai, do you have any idea how awkward you've made everything for the two of us?"

"Oh." And the bastard had the gall to laugh at that.

"This isn't funny, damn it!" she growled. The blond sobered up in response but only just a little as he kept on chuckling.

"But, Maddy-chan, it's pretty funny to me."

"Oh, yeah? Well the next world we come to how about I declare it to everyone that you and Xahra are married, hmm? Do you think it'll be funny then?" she said hotly.

"Well, Xahra-chan will have gained a handsome husband and I will have a very pretty wife." He continued to grin, "I'm sure neither of us would mind."

"You're impossible!" she declared, throwing up her hands in exasperation.

"On the contrary," he shook his head, a teasing glint in his eyes as he drew closer towards her, "I believe the term women generally use to describe me is _irresistible._"

"You do realize you're trying to come on to a married woman, don't you, Mr. Flourite?" she couldn't help but say in response, her voice automatically going down to a whisper.

"Ah, but you said so yourself," he drew back, grin widening just a little bit more, "you do not like your dear husband."

"Doesn't mean I'm willing to cheat on my fake husband and have an affair with someone like you." She said coolly.

"Ouch." He chuckled, "you know how to reject a guy, don't you, Maddy-chan?"

"I try." She said airily. Neither of them said another word for quite some time, somehow feeling content to sit together in silence, the only sounds being that of the fire crackling away merrily in the hearth and the wind moaning outside the windows as snow continued to descend from the sky. Her gaze slowly drifted towards the blond, who had gone back to staring at the fire. His expression was a lot more guarded now that she was sitting right there, as though even while he thought about whatever it was that he was thinking about, he was still very much aware of her presence beside him. Observing the man's face, she came to the conclusion that the blond had decidedly aristocratic features with high cheekbones and a pointed nose. With the way his hair fell into his eyes, some would go so far so as to even consider him quite handsome.

He could very well look intimidating if he so ever wanted to do so. That much was clear. It wasn't quite as obvious with the way he normally behaved but Fai definitely was no ordinary man. When he wasn't busy prancing around or draping himself over other people or objects, he carried himself with a certain amount of grace and finesse that could only be cultured in someone of high upbringing. Considering the fact that he'd confessed he had been a High Mage at the royal court back in his home world, she wondered what it had been that had caused him to run away.

"You know, some may consider it rude if you stare at them for too long, Maddy-chan." The blond said, finally tearing his gaze away from the fire to look at her. "Am I too irresistible, for you to stare at me like that?"

"Now I'm _sure _you're running away from an angry girlfriend." She declared triumphantly before rolling her eyes, "You're such a shameless flirt. If she ever finds out where you are, I'm going to help hold you down as she chops you to bits and pieces. In fact, I might even lend her a rusty knife to hack at you with."

**_A/N: I know measles doesn't actually show this soon or develop this fast but this could be a different strain of the same disease. Like it developed differently in Jade then it did on earth as a result, it's much faster and much different her than on earth. Sakura and Xahra both have gone missing and one of them was hypnotized to leave. How will everyone react to their missing companions and what does Dr. Jekyll want with Xahra? All that and a lot more in the next chapter. ;) ;) I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter so please don't forget to review. Remember, reviews help the plunnies to grow. _**

**_Oh and to answer the question I was asked by someone last chapter, Maddy won't remember anything from her dreams from here on out and it might end up costing them all dearly. *wink wink* but that is something to explored at another time. Till next time guys. Don't forget to review~_**


	22. Jade: The Art of Monologues

**_A/N: I cant believe I made such a stupid mistake with the updates. I accidentally put up the wrong chapter…. It was only thanks to a friend pointing out that there were scenes missing that I realized what had happened. So anyways… here's the proper chapter 22. The one I put up earlier comes after this. *sweatdrops* _**

Syaoran woke to an empty room that morning, the sun was barely up in the horizon so it was rather strange to not find his blond companion still sleeping in his bed. After all, the blond had a tendency to sleep in from what he had observed during the short time they had spent travelling together. Pulling on his coat and shoes, he splashed a bit of water on his face from the basin left on table near the door before running his fingers through his unruly hair. Deciding that that was as presentable as he was going to get, the brunette opened the door and ventured outside, taking care not to make too much noise as he trudged down the stairs. He had been wanting to check on a few things on his own ever since he had found the torn page in the book. He had been prepared to sneak into the doctor's office-which was located right across from his room- but he had not been prepared for the sight that awaited him near the fireplace. His missing roommate was asleep on the sofa that was arranged near the fireplace but he wasn't the only one sleeping there.

Madiha was asleep right beside him, both of them leaning against each other. Madiha's shawl was pulled over her shoulders to ward off the cold and her glasses were nearly slipping off the bridge of her nose. Heat rose along his neck as he tried to think of what might have happened between the two of them last night. Considering the fact that she was supposed to be pretending to be married to Kurogane, it would be a very scandalous position those two would be discovered in if he were to let them continue sleeping down there, out in the open- even if they did look rather peaceful. Deciding it would be in everyone's best interests if he woke them up, Syaoran cautiously approached the pair, gently shaking their shoulders to rouse them from their sleep.

"Fai-san, Maddy-san, wake up." He hissed, casting a glance over his shoulder, hoping he was quiet enough to not wake up the doctor.

"Mmm… Syaoran-kun?" the blond murmured sleepily, as he brought up a hand to rub at his eyes as he looked around him in confusion. "What…" his eyes widened just a fraction as he noticed the sleeping brunette, "Maddy-chan…" the brunette took a little longer to wake up though she did jump away from the blond as though he had burnt her. Fai casually got off the sofa, stretching out his arms as he grinned at Syaoran, "that was a good night's sleep, although I must say, sleeping upright doesn't work out very well for me neck." He flinched at the crack that came as he tilted his head to the right.

"What were you two doing down here?" Syaoran asked, unable to keep the hint of accusation out of his voice even if he had not meant for his question to come out that way.

"Nothing!" Madiha said hurriedly, face paling as she looked hurriedly between them. "I just couldn't sleep last night and then I came downstairs and Fai was there and we just got talking and then we…" she trailed off, looking rather embarrassed to continue.

"I hope you don't expect me to take responsibility for what happened between us Maddy-chan." The blond said in the sorriest tone he could muster, though his grin somewhat ruined the effect of his not-so-sincere confession. "I mean think of what Kuro-hubby would say if her were to find out about us."

"Responsibility of what?" Madiha asked with a puzzled frown before she put two and two together while Syaoran turned completely red in the face, "You are impossible Fai D. Flourite!" she declared angrily, stomping her foot in anger as she glowered at him, "_nothing_ happened."

"But Maddy-chan," the magician adopted a hurt expression, "last night you said-"

"I said nothing!" she glowered, before she picked up a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him.

The blond dodged out of the way with a grin, "Why Maddy-chan, am I going to be a victim of domestic violence now?"

Syaoran was quite sure steam was escaping from his ears by now as Madiha flung another cushion at the magician which the latter neatly stepped out of the way off. Twisting out of the way of the third cushion, the blond raced for the stairs while Madiha chased after him, swearing and making death threats. Casting another glance in the direction of the doctor's room- the door was still firmly shut- he decided it might be in the best interests for everyone if he maybe… tried to break them up before Fai gave Madiha an aneurism or Madiha managed to split his head open.

-0-

Kurogane woke to the dulcet tones of Madiha swearing her head off as she seemed to race right outside his door, a certain blond being the recipient of her ire. Wondering what the idiot could have done to have her so worked up so early in the morning, he pushed the covers aside and climbed out of bed, squinting at the early morning sun that glared in his eyes through the window. Pulling on his coat and fighting off a shudder as he suddenly felt the difference in the temperature of his bed and the rest of the room, the ninja walked out the door, witnessing the brunette glowering at the blond who seemed to be standing with his back to the wall at the end of the corridor, hands raised in a placating gesture. Syaoran came up to stand beside him with a worried look on his face, his cheeks a little flushed though he wasn't sure if it was the cold or something else.

"Oi! Keep it down will you two?" he growled, shutting the door to his room behind him, "Or do you want to wake up the princess and the sick girl?"

"Just tell blond idiot to stop saying things that are not true!" the brunette shot back angrily.

"Maddy-chan, are you saying that last night never happened between us?" the blond mock-whimpered while the girl looked just about ready to blow her top. Surprisingly enough, she only screeched like a dying animal for about three seconds before shutting up and firmly turning on her heels. The meatbun hopped out of the kid's room, jumping across the corridor to perch itself on the male brunette's shoulder.

"I am going to ignore you now." She declared decisively as she began marching towards Kurogane. The meat bun looked around in confusion for a little bit before settling for just quietly observing everything it would seem as it did not say anything when the girl stopped outside the door to the room the princess and the other girl were sharing. She gently rapped her knuckles on the door as she called the girl's name.

"Xahra, are you awake? Hey, Sakura, I'm gonna come in now, okay?" the kid walked up behind her as she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"They're gone!" the meat-bun's panicked declaration had him and the mage running towards the door as the girl and the kid rushed inside. Kurogane only noticed the open window and the sheet half hanging over it before his attention was called to the sounds of a struggle going on downstairs.

"Foreigners, come out this instant!" he heard the loud moron demand even as the sound of stomping feet approached their location, a harried looking doctor following after them. "More children are missing! Seven of them this time, the landlord's nephew among them!" he declared accusingly as he marched up to where they all were. The manju seemed to have hidden itself inside the girl's shawl as it was no longer anywhere in sight.

"Listen to me, none of them went outside last night." The doctor said pleadingly even as the loud moron waved about the wooden and steel contraption called a gun around. The man seemed to have noticed their missing companions however since he marched right up to Syaoran, eyes narrowed in hatred as he spat, "where are the other two?"

"They're not in their room." He heard the kid respond evenly, even though it was quite clear from the pallor of his face that the brunette was at a bit of a loss on what to do about the missing princess.

"What?" the doctor yelped, "but Xahra was sick! Where could she have gone? And Sakura-"

"And you said no one went outside Doctor Jekyll." The moron scoffed, "I bet the whole story about seeing the golden-haired princess was just a ruse. They're the ones who took the children away!" the moron yelled, pointing his gun at the kid- who in a surprising move, kicked it out of the former's grip and right into Kurogane's hand. Snapping into action the minute he had the weapon, Kurogane flung himself at the suddenly befuddled moron, pushing him to the ground and pointing the gun at his head, even if he had no idea how to use the thing the right way- he _had_ seen the moron holding it. And if all else failed and he could not get the thing to work, he could still use it to club the idiots in the head.

The moron struggled under his grip but his hold was unrelenting. Finally having gotten a chance to be the one on top, he smirked before lowering his voice just a little to tell the moron to shut up. "If you're gonna try and use force to intimidate us, I hope you're prepared to die when it fails."

"Sleeping Beauty and Xahra did not kidnap the children," Madiha declared as she stalked up to the moron, a matching glower fixed on her face as she looked down at him, "you should try to get all the fact before you start pointing fingers you moron."

"We're going to find out who took the children," the kid declared firmly as he too looked down at the man, "you probably don't believe us when we say this-"

"Of course not!" the moron retorted angrily as he began to squirm, "You expect us to take your word for it? Until the children are found, you lot are the most suspicious people around!"

"Like I said, you don't believe us, but we didn't take them, and neither did Sakura-chan or Xahra-san. But we _will_ find the one who did." He promised, "because the one who's very important to me has been taken as well."

"And so has my best-friend. If you think we're just gonna sit back after _that_," Madiha piped up, "then you better think again."

-0-

Sakura couldn't help but shudder at the biting cold as she woke up with a tiny groan. It was really dark, wherever she was, though she could tell she was no longer outside, even if her clothes were still damp from having fallen asleep in the snow. Someone must have found her and brought her inside. But where was she? Clambered to her feet and trying not to shudder as the soles of her feet struck the nearly frozen stone, she took a few hurried steps in one direction before she felt a heavy weight around her ankle, restricting her movement and causing her to trip when she couldn't take the next step. She scraped her knees and the palms of her hands against the floor when she fell and she had to bite her lip to not cry out at the pain. Her eyes grew a little moist as she clenched her injured hands to her chest, waiting until the throbbing in her palms was nearly gone before standing up again.

Her knees stung as the skin was stretched as she took a careful step back the way she had come. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark enough by now for her to be able to make out the vague shapes of what appeared to be a series of metal frames of old beds lining up both sides of a long room. Something moved behind her, causing the princess to whirl around.

"Who's there?" she demanded, straining her ears for another sound of movement as she tried to observe the dark room. Some light seemed to be filtering into the room from a slit in the wall a little ways away, falling in a slanting line across a patch of-

"Princess?!" she couldn't help but exclaim as the now familiar face of the golden-haired princess appeared before her in the sliver of sunlight. The apparition did not answer, and it took a couple of seconds for Sakura to realize why. It was just a painting. A very realistic, life-like painting, hanging on a blank stretch of stone wall above the frame of a rickety old bed. Someone had brought her inside the castle.

The sounds of scuffling feet had her whirling around again as she noticed a door that she had somehow missed before. Rushing towards the barred opening near the top, she stood on her toes to peek outside. All the missing children seemed to be trudging right past her door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she cried but the children kept on moving, as though in a trance. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of purple and black, identifying the person as Xahra only seconds later. she seemed to be moving through the corridors in the same manner as the children but she was heading in the complete opposite direction.

"Xahra-san!" she called frantically, pulling at the iron bars and hoping the door would open for her. Having no such luck, she called for the raven-head again, "Xahra-san, over here!" the older girl kept on moving as though she had not heard her until she disappeared from her line of sight entirely. Letting go of the door, Sakura hurriedly looked around her, slowly realizing that even if she somehow managed to get the door open, she'd still not be able to go anywhere with the shackle around her ankle, she tried pulling at the rusty chain but to no avail. Following the chain to the metal leg it was hooked to, she tried pulling with all her might, falling hard on her bottom when the chain slipped from her grip. Casting a helpless glance at the door, she tried once again, only to yield the same results. Refusing to give up, she tried again and again, the sound of scuffing feet growing fainter with every passing second.

-0-

Maddy couldn't believe that the golden-haired princess would take her friend and the sleeping beauty of all people. Why in the world would ghost be interested in someone like them? On second though… why the hell would a ghost be interested in kidnapping anyone for that matter? Whoever had taken them… they appeared to have left willingly with them because there was no way in hell someone would not have heard them cry for help had they been kidnapped. So maybe they saw whoever it was the really took the children and decided to follow? But they wouldn't be so stupid so as to go after the bad guy on their own. Especially considering the fact that Sleeping Beauty still had no way to defend herself and Xahra with her fever and measles would be in no state to offer any protection for either of them. So they wouldn't have left willingly in a stupid act of misplaced heroism.

But on the other hand… why wouldn't they have cried for help if they were being taken away?

After searching the room for clues, their party headed outside, the loud moron eyeing Maddy in distaste as she had chosen to forego her corset for the time being. Apart from the very obvious problem of not having anyone around to tie all the strings for her, there was also the fact the it made it nearly impossible to breath properly or even eat properly! She had only had a cup of tea and an egg before she had felt nearly ready to burst during their dinner the very first night they spent in Spirit. Of course, she had not worn the corset the day before either but then again, she had not had to go outside so no one had known. The loud moron now seemed to think she had no shame since she had chosen to appear in public dressed up the way she had. She merely rolled her eyes at the man and trudged on ahead to stand beside Kurogane who was tracking footprints in the snow. Or atleast, the ninja _had_ been trying to do so.

Snowfall from the previous night had erased all tracks making it impossible for them to decide where they could have gone off to. Syaoran appeared to be asking questions about the landlord and the doctor with the loud moron answering them all without any animosity in his responses for a change. The man appeared to be just as equally worried for all the missing children as he wondered why they had not chosen to use their horses to search for their missing companions as Syaoran slowly trailed away to join up with Fai. Kurogane was the one to answer his question as snapped that even an idiot would know that on horses they might miss important clues. The ninja returned his attention to observing the snow before declaring that it was impossible to tell anything anymore.

The moron looked pensively and just a tad bit suspiciously at Syaoran as he wondered why the boy wasn't so worried when two of their companions had gone missing. And why Kurogane wasn't so worried for that matter, considering the fact that it was his sister that was amongst the missing. The red-eyed man's only response was to glower at the man until he looked away.

"Syaoran is a very determined boy. If he's set his mind to finding them, he _will_ find them." Madiha said for his benefit.

"It's Mr. Kuerlson!" the loud moron declared out of the blue as he gaped in the direction of the golden-haired princess's castle. They _had_ come a long way to look for the missing in the past few hours.

"He looks like he's soaked through." Maddy couldn't help but frown as Fai pointed out that it hadn't snowed since last night. In layman terms it did not make sense for the man to be drenched so bad if there had been no snow.

"Maybe he fell in the river." Kurogane grunted in an offhand manner.

"But no one goes to the castle unless it's a very serious matter." Argued the loud moron.

"Which means, things might have gotten a whole lot serious." The mage added with a tiny frown of his own as he observed the retreating back of the landlord, "especially considering that one of the missing children is his nephew."

-0-

Sakura could feel the blisters forming in her hands as she kept on pulling at the chain. She had been at it for quite some time now and even though she had not managed to break the chain, she could see one of the rusty links beginning to deform under assault. Biting her lip as her palms stung against the warm metal, she pulled with all her might. The corridor was completely silent outside but she was sure she would be able to find the others with just a little bit of searching. She could see the link loosening up. The gap was still not big enough for her to be able to slip the rest of the chain free from it but it was widening with each pull. Gritting her teeth, she gave it another pull, digging her bare heels into the frozen floor as she leaned backwards. The link must have been quite weak, all things considered because it broke and sent Sakura flailing backwards. Her back collided with the door as she staggered back before her eyes widened and a smile lit up her face. She had done it. She had freed herself. Looking at the barred opening in the door, she turned around to give an experimental tug to the handle.

The door did not budge. Refusing to give up now, she grabbed the bars and pulled her body upwards, feet scrabbling against rough wood as tried to peek outside, spotting the wooden stick that was wedged between the door and the frame from the outside. Jumping back to the ground, she looked around for something to get the stick out. All she could see around her were old frayed bedspreads on the skeletal metal frames. Pulling one of the sheets off the bed, she looked back at the door. She could probably make a loop out of one of these and use it to maybe pull the stick out?

Deciding to give it a go, she tried tearing the sheet in her hand, refusing to cry out when one of her blister's burst. Focusing at the task at hand, she ripped the sheet in half before twisting it into a rough looking cloth rope. Making a look at one end, she head back to the door, struggling back up the door to get to the opening before throwing the rope out. It took a few tries but she managed to get the stick out, grinning in triumph as the door swung inside. Jumping to the floor, she hurried outside, biting her lip in indecision as she looked both ways and tried to decide which way to go.

Xahra had gone in the complete opposite direction to the children but unlike the children, she knew how to protect herself. But she was also sick… deciding that maybe she could find the older girl and they could find the children together, she hurried in the direction where she had last seen the girl only to stop as the corridor took a sharp turn before opening up into three different corridors. The girl could have gone down any of those… it would take her ages to find her in this mess and… what if something happened to the children in the meantime?

Biting her lip, she turned back on her feet and raced back the way she had come. Maybe Xahra had gone to get help? She should probably go find the children and guide them outside. Ignoring the pounding of her heart, she ran down the corridor, hearing the sounds of commotion up ahead until she came to an opening. The corridor had led her to a vast hall, the walls decorated with countless pictures of the golden haired princess. Broken toys littered the floor but the thing that drew her attention was the tiny hole in the wall opposite to her, next to portrait of the princess that all the missing children appeared to be crawling into.

The children appeared to be in some sort of trance as they trudged along the hall and crawled through a tiny hole that could only fit a child. None of them seeming to pay any mind to Sakura even as she walked inside the hall. Just as she was about to open her mouth to say something, she heard a scream that made her blood run cold. It had sounded like Xahra.

-0-

Xahra shivered and couldn't help but groan in discomfort as the world continued spinning around her, her feet carrying her through different stone hallways off their own accord. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there for that matter. All that she knew was cold and feeling miserable. Deciding that maybe the best way to find out where she was or how to get back to her friends was to keep walking. Unfortunately for her, as luck would have it, she ended up getting even more lost, not that she wasn't lost before.

"Well look who finally decided to show up," a voice she had not thought she'd ever hear again in life spoke. Eyes widening in shock and a hint of fear, Xahra took a step back, searching for the speaker. "No need to get alarmed on my account my dear." The voice said silkily, seemingly coming from all around her.

"H-How did you get here?" her words came out sounding shaky.

"I'm a Demon," Silver grinned, materializing out of thin air right before her, a wide grin nearly splitting her face in half, "travelling between dimensions is childsplay for someone of my station."

Xahra whirled on her heels and bolted right back the way she had come.

"Aww… it's so cute when they try to run," she heard the demon say, her voice once again coming from all around her as her heart thundered inside her chest. She had no idea why she felt so scared of the creature but every instinct she had screamed at her to get away. "You _know_ it won't do you any good."

Refusing to respond, she kept on running, but between the adrenalin rushing through her veins and the pounding in her head and the spinning of the world around her, all corridors seems to melt into the same thing, a never-ending dark passageway that seemed to lead nowhere.

"It's no use." Silver taunted.

Still not saying anything, Xahra pushed her exhausted body to continue on running, her feet stumbling over each other the longer she did. It was all the same. She had no idea where to go. In blind panic, she turned sharp around a corner and nearly slammed face-first into a caved in wall. Twisting on her heels, she made to go back only to find her path blocked by Silver. The demon's eyes glinted in the darkness in an unnatural way as it slowly advanced towards her. Helplessly turning back to the cave in, she tried searching for some way out, but the dull light filtering in through a few cracks did not seem to be enough for her to make out much and then Silver was practically breathing down her neck, causing the raven-head to freeze where she was.

"Trust me," she felt the demon's claws rip through the fabric of her dress, ripping through the back of her top like tissue paper, the cold palms of her hands making contact with her exposed back, "you'll thank me for this one day." A pain like never before assaulted her entire body, ripping, tearing, _burning_ through her veins. Her knees gave out from under her as a scream tore itself from her throat, the world quickly fading to blessed oblivion though she was sure she felt someone pat her head before she knew no more.

-0-

At Syaoran's insistence they all returned to the mayor's house for another visit, the brunette asking for a record of all the missing children. The mayor seemed more than eager to provide answers, same as last time. Thanking the old man for the record, he marched down the stairs to his mansion, distantly aware of the loud man from before warning him not to lose the book as he subconsciously made his way past various obstacles, his eyes hurriedly soaking in all the information the book had to offer. He had almost figured out the whole thing by now but he still needed to confirm one last thing. The children's age and gender was also listed in the record, along with a brief description of their appearance and the brunette tried to identify a pattern- if there was any- in the kidnappings. So lost was he in his contemplation of what little information he had that he failed to realize he was walking right into a pothole filled with snow.

His foot slipped and he fell in the snow with a surprised yelp. Surprisingly enough, before he could even try to struggle and get himself out, he was being pulled out of the frozen wetness by a large hand as Kurogane's gruff voice warned him to be more careful. Heeding the ninja's warning he apologized for his carelessness unable to help the sigh that escaped his lips. It was nearly sunset now, making it more than half a day since Sakura and Xahra had gone missing by now. They couldn't really afford to leave them missing for much longer. They had to find them before something bad happened. It was surprising to see Dr. Jekyll busy as ever, attending to the patients. The loud man seemed rather proud of the doctor's achievements because he had nothing but good things to say for the man not to mention the fact that he seemed just about ready to sell himself in slavery to the latter because _that_ was how grateful he was.

Syaoran thought it a little odd for the child- the one the doctor had been visiting- to claim there were birds in the sky when it was completely clear. Frowning at the doctor's retreating back, Syaoran came to a quick decision. It was about time he broke into that office and took a look at the doctor's list of patient records. If it confirmed what he already knew, they might have their perpetrator before the night was out. Pulling his friends companions aside for a little bit, he hurriedly relayed his suspicions to them before explaining a plan that was slowly beginning to form in his head even as he spoke.

-0-

Madiha peeked out from the window to see the lone form of a tiny cloaked child making its way through the snow towards the castle. Behind her she heard Syaoran draw in a sharp breath as another cloaked figure emerged from behind the inn and began following after the child. Having already explained his plan to all concerned, Syaoran only gave a short nod to the others hiding with him before they quietly snuck outside and began trailing after the duo. She was rather impressed by the brunette's deductive skills, considering the fact that this was only their third day in Spirit he already seemed to have solved the mystery surrounding the golden-haired princess when others had been unable to do so for the past two months.

Her attention was drawn to the doctor hastening across the snow when the _child_ tripped and fell. Syaoran hurried on ahead to catch up.

"What's the matter, Dr. Jekyll?" she heard him say in the frostiest tone she had ever heard the boy use which was actually never.

"Syaoran! I-I... I was worried about the child, so when I saw him leave I followed after him. You told me everyone was keeping watch at the landlord's house tonight and I-" the doctor's eyes widened just a fraction as the landlord stepped out of the shadows to stand behind Syaoran, "Mr. Kuerlson, what are you doing here?"

"I lied." Syaoran said, referring to something he must have told the doctor. Perhaps about them all watching the landlord's house? Any idiot with half a brain should have realized the man would never have put his own nephew in danger even if he _had _been kidnapping children from the village for reasons not yet known to anyone. Not that he had, of course. "Mr. Kuerlson was not the one kidnapping the children from the village. we checked everywhere for the missing children."

"Except for the castle," the landlord interjected. "I tried crossing the river to check there."

"But you fell in the river whenever you tried." Maddy spoke up, alerting the doctor to everyone else who had come after him, which consisted of the landlord and the team of idiots led by the loud moron apart from herself. The doctor stood his ground though, keeping an innocent look of confusion plastered on his face long enough to make Maddy wonder if maybe the man was really telling the truth. But then Syaoran pulled out the record of missing children he had borrowed from the mayor and a sheet of paper that was torn from a register of some sort.

"This is the record that the mayor keeps on all the missing children," he informed the doctor as he held it up, "and this is the record of all the patients you visited. And upon comparing the dates and the names on these records, it's actually quite obvious that you visited all the children on both these lists right before they went missing."

"But I visited all the children in the village regularly," the man protested though something clicked in Maddy's head upon Syaoran's declaration, "Let's not forget that you also checked Xahra the night she went missing." She scowled, taking a step towards the doctor.

"But Xahra was sick. I'm a doctor. Of course I had to check on her. And… Sakura was with you during that time. If I was responsible, why did she go missing as well?"

"Maybe she saw Xahra-san leave," Syaoran said, "and tried to stop her. You have been hypnotizing your patients into following after something only they can see. You did that to the boy you attended today as well." The brunette narrowed his eyes, "the sky was completely empty and yet right after you left, the child pointed to the sky and claimed to have seen a black bird. You placed a suggestion in their mind that they would leave off their own accord whenever it snowed- to make tracking them impossible."

"Well then," the bespectacled man challenged with a small smirk, "where did they all go?"

"Most likely to the castle," the landlord spoke up.

"And the river?" his smirk widened enough to make Maddy feel like smacking him right in his face.

"You stopped the current flow and crossed over to the other side," Syaoran replied, undaunted.

"But how did he do that?" Mr. Kuerlson demanded angrily. She could understand his frustration over the matter just a little. He _had_ been trying to cross it for quite some time now.

"From this book," he held up the book he had borrowed from the mayor about the princess's legend, "Dr. Jekyll borrowed it from the mayor before. Some of the pages are missing that are still intact in the copy that Mr. Kuerlson owned."

"So you managed to borrow the book from him then?" the doctor quirked a brow, looking just a little impressed.

"Because of my nature, no one ever dared approach me for the book before," the landlord responded, "which is why you thought the travelers wouldn't either."

"Mr. Kuerlson's copy explains all about the underground passages and rooms built under the castle," the brunette added, "they also mentioned an underground waterway, which means there is also a mechanism to make all that water flow into the castle," he said, neatly packing away all the books in the bag that he had been carrying around for most part of the evening.

"Did it work?" Fai called out as he and Kurogane approached their group from upstream. "We found the mechanism, right where you said it would be, Syaoran-kun. It was a little hard to find and it looked very old but it still works. Has the water stopped running by now?"

"There were signs that someone's been using it recently," Kurogane added, glowering at the doctor, "I suppose there would be a similar device in the castle."

"But this does not make any sense," the loud moron protested angrily, "why would the doctor kidnap any of those children. He's such a kind man and he has helped everyone so much. Why would he… it's not true!" Madiha felt a little pity for the man as he looked around at all of them in disbelief, looking not only shocked but confused and betrayed as well.

That was when the doctor began chuckling, drawing their attention towards him as it slowly grew to full blow laughter.

"I can't believe it." He said, doubling over in laughter, "you're still just as stubborn as ever. Things were supposed to be different but I guess it can't be helped if some things remain the same, wouldn't you agree?" taking of his glasses to clean with a tiny handkerchief, he sobered up before meeting Syaoran's gaze, "I was going to use the children to retrieve it for me before having you lot framed for the kidnappings. Any idiot with half a brain could tell you weren't who you claimed to be. If Fai is a writer, where are his supplies? And you're more worried about finding his sister than he is. And Madiha has no idea how to behave like a respectable lady, she's walking around without her corset like it's no big deal. And she's more worried about finding her servant girl than her husband who is supposed to be the missing girl's brother."

"Only losers waste time, standing around giving monologues," the ninja grunted irritably as he glowered at the man while the landlord growled something about the doctor being responsible for the children all along. The loud moron tried to plead to the doctor to refute all these claims but it wasn't like the doctor's denial would have changed anything when all the evidence pointed towards him being the culprit.

"I think it all depends on who is monologing ." argued the doctor, "the object that I desire is the princess's feather that's frozen in ice inside the castle. Only children can get to it so I-""

"You bastard! You kidnapped the children for a legend?!" the landlord fumed.

"I guess you were bound to be a lot more emotional when it was your nephew who had gone missing, am I right Mr. Kuerlson? I thought you were a more levelheaded person but oh well." He shrugged, "the legend is real and the feather's power is equally real. You do not comprehend the real power that object holds or you would have been willing to sacrifice all the children in the village for it too." And then, before any of them could stop him, the doctor turned around and jumped into the river.


	23. Jade: Monologue some more

**_A/N: Sorry guys. I accidentally skipped out on a chapter when I was updating. to everyone who has come straight to chapter 23 I'd say please head back and read chapter 22 first. That's the one I missed putting up earlier today so yeah... go read that one first. To everyone else, enjoy~ _**

"He's running on water?!" the loud moron yelped from somewhere to Kurogane's right as shining gold dust blew towards the doctor's feet from under the cloak where he knew the manju bun was hiding.

"No, there are rocks under the water," the kid pointed out, "the path the doctor took is shining." The meat bun hopped to the mage as he congratulated the thing on a job well done. Kurogane wondered where the creature had gotten the dust in the first place. He asked as much as the meatbun slid into his jacket. "What was that thing you threw at the doctor?"

"Syaoran asked Mokona to turn the fish scale from the last world into a shiny powder." It explained happily as it crawled its way up his sleeve and settled happily into the inside pocket of his coat.

"We should follow the doctor," the kid declared as he hopped onto the first stepping stone and began running over the stones to get to the other side. Sharing a look with the mage and the bespectacled girl, Kurogane followed right after, his companions right at his heels. The landlord and team of loud morons all jumped in behind them. They made it to the other side without any incidents, though he couldn't help but notice the disgusted looks some of the morons from the loud moron's group were shooting at his 'wife'. What did it matter how she dressed, anyway? Their looks seemed to be making the girl a little uncomfortable as though she regretted having come out the way she had, but one glower from the ninja had the morons all looking away in shame. The girl mouthed him a small thanks as they hurried along the snow to catch up with the brunette and the doctor.

The building above ground was nearly destroyed, nothing but dangerous ruins. It seemed as though the children were being kept in the underground rooms since the doctor's footsteps led down a half-destroyed stairway. It was comparatively darker underground, but some sort of glow seemed to come off the walls themselves, as though a fluorescent mold had begun to grow in places to provide some light.

The gold dust shone against the stone floor, reflecting off the walls in an eerie manner for quite some distance before they found the doctor's abandoned shoes. The bastard must have realized they could use the dust to follow him and taken off his shoes to sneak away. But even if his own footprints had stopped, he had still led them to the smudged prints of tiny feet trudging down the corridor. Only one set of footsteps led away from that spot.

-0-

Before Sakura could run back towards the corridor she had seen Xahra vanish into, the air before her started to shimmer as the golden-haired princess materialized before her. The sounds of the children trying to break down the ice continued coming from inside the hole in the wall, even as the princess approached her with a small smile on her face.

_I brought the children from the village here three hundred years ago to save them from a disease that only attacked the children, _the spirit said in a musical voice that seemed to echo all around her, _I used your feather to cure them and keep them healthy until they were able to leave again. Now these children were brought here to dig out that very feather and I am unable to do anything to help them at all. I stayed here for all these years waiting for you to come and claim your feather, Princess Sakura._

"You know my name?" she gasped weakly.

_I know much more, but there is not enough time._ The princess warned, _you must take the feather and return the children to their homes. And you must find your companion. Your friend is in danger._

"Xahra-san?" she asked, taking a step towards the exit to the room before a little girl crawled out of the hole and approached her with a chunk of ice that gave off an ethereal glow. In the middle of the ice was a pure white feather with red markings. Another memory.

"Is this yours?" the girl asked, offering her the feather encased in ice, which she hurriedly took with a nod.

_Hurry, you must-_

"Sakura!" she heard the worried voice of the doctor call her name as he raced towards her.

"Dr. Jekyll?" she turned around to face the man as he stopped a few feet away from her. His gaze drifted down to the ice in her arms and his eyes took on a hungry gleam that made the princess take a hesitant step back.

"What's the matter, Sakura?" he said, his voice sounding sincerely worried, though the hungry gleam remained in his eye. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Hurry up and come here so that we can leave. Walking around without your shoes on is going to make you sick."

"I-I…How do you know I'm not wearing my shoes?" she asked, trying to sound braver than she felt as her heart began to thunder inside her chest. The doctor looked at a loss for words for a moment, "Earlier, was it you that hurt Xahra-san?"

"I must say, you're still as annoying as your beloved Syaoran," Dr. Jekyll said, dropping the façade of the worried doctor completely as he began advancing towards her menacingly. "And don't worry about Xahra, Silver is making sure she'll be taken care of."

"The demon from Citadel?" she gasped in shock. "Why is she so interested in Xahra-san?"

"I think you should worry more about yourself, my dear," he said even as Sakura began to back away, "now how about you give me the feather and we all go happily on our way, hmm? Your friends don't know you're here, so it would be best if you did as I said and no harm will come to you. I only want the feather. That's why I kidnapped those children, you know, to help me dig it out. That hole is so small only children can go through and the ice that feather is encased in does not melt even in summer. I had no choice. So if you don't hand it over to me, I will be forced to take some very drastic measures with you."

_Don't give it to him, _warned the spirit. _There is an exit on the other side of the room. Go that way._

"Thank you, Princess Emeraude," she said hastily as she turned on her heels and began racing in the direction the ghost had indicated, the chain clanking away on the floor behind her.

"Not so fast," something yanked on the chain and sent her tumbling to the floor, "are you hallucinating? I never hypnotized you, but no matter. I don't have time for your theatrics."

Sakura turned around to face the doctor, pushing away from the man as he advanced towards her with a predatory grin.

-0-

Maddy and Fai had split up from the others to follow the lone set of footsteps. The blond motioned for her to stop when they heard the sound of uneven footsteps coming in their direction. They only had to wait for half a minute before Xahra burst towards them. Tears streamed down her flushed face, her breath coming in uneven pants as she staggered towards them, nearly collapsing in Madiha's arms.

"Xahra, what happened?" Maddy asked her best friend as she cried hysterically. Unfortunately, the girl couldn't seem to form any proper words as she looked back the way she had come. Her blond companion was watching Xahra with a puzzled frown before his gaze drifted down the dark corridor.

"Do you sense something?" Maddy asked urgently as she tried to pacify her friend.

"No, it's nothing." He shook his head, though the frown was still firmly plastered in place for a few more seconds. Then he offered her a smile and hurried over to help support the nearly-limp Xahra, "we should get her outside."

"Her fever seems to have escalated." She said worriedly as Fai slung Xahra's arm around his shoulder, Maddy doing the same with her other arm.

"She _has_ been outside in the cold for nearly a day." The blond pointed out softly.

"Something happened to her down here," she gasped when her hand brushed against the torn fabric of Xahra's dress and came away a little wet when it slide over her exposed back. "She's bleeding!" She exclaimed, making the move to set her down so that she could examine the injury but the magician stopped her.

"We should get her out first, Maddy-chan." He insisted, making Madiha vaguely wonder if maybe there was something he was not telling her. Deciding to listen to his advice for the time being, she readjusted her grip on the girl before they slowly made their way towards the place where they had split off from the others.

-0-

"Princess Sakura!" Syaoran cried, his blood boiling at the sight of the doctor standing above her. Her face was pale in fear but she still wore a determined scowl, clutching her feather close to her chest. It was encased in ice but she did not seem to be feeling the cold as her fingers nearly dug into the frozen liquid in an attempt to keep it close. The doctor held a knife to her throat, his eyes narrowed in a threatening manner at Syaoran.

"Come any closer and I slit this pretty little neck of hers." He warned, causing Syaoran to freeze right where he was. "It's not so hard, listening to orders from someone better than you, is it?" The doctor grinned in satisfaction, "once I have this feather, I'm going to use its power to take over the entire town- no, the entire country! With its power, I will be unstoppable. The princess was a fool to have used the feather's power to cure the children of their sickness three hundred years ago. She could have used it to expand her kingdom, but the foolish girl was content with playing nurse to all those brats."

"But the princess killed all the children…" the loud man, who was the leader of the home defense team, said with a puzzled frown. "And the king and queen died right after the princess gained the feather."

"If she had wanted to kill the children, she would never have had any use for rooms such as this one." Dr. Jekyll declared, gesturing to their surroundings. The floor was littered with old broken toys and swings for children. "She had everything for the children down here, so they wouldn't be miserable. A laughable notion when you think about having to spend your time in such a decrepit place."

"It's not like that," Sakura murmured as she stared at the empty space somewhere to their right. The look on her face was just like the one she got whenever she was conversing with a spirit. Perhaps…maybe she was talking to the princess's ghost? "But why didn't they return?" she questioned the empty space, confirming his suspicions even though no one else seemed to have made the connection yet.

"Who're you talking to?" Kurogane questioned, no doubt looking around for concealed opponents.

"I don't have time for your chit-chat with your hallucinations!" The doctor screamed impatiently as he raised the knife. Adrenaline rushed through Syaoran's veins, his body moving of its own accord even as the knife began to descend towards the princess. "Hand me the feather, you stubborn girl!"

"No!" Syaoran cried, everything moving in slow motion around him as he crossed the distance separating them, shielding Sakura's body with his own at the last possible moment. A sharp, piercing burn shot through his shoulder as the knife sliced through skin and muscles like butter. Gritting his teeth to keep the scream from escaping his lips, he tightened his hold on the princess, focusing his attention on her warm body in his arms as he tried to ignore the pain.

A loud, rumbling roar shook the building all around them, causing everyone to freeze in alarm.

"What is that?" the landlord frowned, looking around them with a frown.

"An earthquake?" the ninja hazarded a guess, though Syaoran's blood ran cold for a different reason. The mechanism holding the water…it was very old. Who was to say that it hadn't-the wall to their right burst, a torrent of water rapidly flooding the room.

"The device holding the water at bay!" declared the leader of the home defense team, "it must have broken!"

"Watch out!" warned the landlord, even as a part of the roof caved in, Syaoran jumping out of the way at the last possible moment with Sakura firmly wrapped in his arms as rocks fell where they had been only moments before. Looking behind them, he realized that they were trapped.

"Get the children out," he yelled across the rocks separating them from everyone else, even as his eyes hurriedly looked around for another escape route. "We'll look for another way." And then without waiting for a response, Syaoran searched for the telltale signs of a secret passage that was supposed to lead to the surface. He knew studying the plans of the castle would come in handy.

-0-

The ground shook beneath their feet as Fai helped Madiha carry Xahra towards the main corridor, a loud rumble accompanying the tremors as dust began to rain down on them from the roof.

"What's that?" the brunette questioned, looking around in alarm.

"It sounds like water." He replied, wordlessly urging the girl to hurry. He had no idea how he knew it, but the damn built to hold the water under the castle had just given way. If they did not hurry, the roof would cave in and Sakura and Syaoran would be separated from everyone else and- wait…no, he had no idea what was going on with everyone else. Why had he just thought about those two when it was obvious that-

"We're trapped!" Maddy yelled in panic as they came to a halt in front of a portion of the corridor that had caved in. Fai looked around for alternate routes to getting out but could find none.

"Could you use your magic to clear the way?" she asked, biting her lip in worry as she shook her head with an annoyed look, as though trying to get rid of an annoying fly that refused to leave her alone.

"I could but…I can't use my magic." He responded helplessly. Growling in annoyance, Maddy ducked out from under Xahra, leaving Fai to support the hysterical girl's weight as the raven-head mumbled incoherently. Grumbling to herself, the brunette crouched near the base of the cave-in.

"You know, if I end up blowing us up just because you refuse to use your magic to help us out," she warned angrily, "I am so coming back to haunt you till the day you die."

"Eh?" he cocked his head to the right in confusion.

"I keep on getting these...I don't even know _what_ to call them but I get these weird symbols and the names of random elements and I don't even know what else in my head at the worst possible moments." She replied, frowning at the rocks blocking their way. "I'm not sure what they mean or if I should be putting any stock into what he used to tell me…but for now, I guess that just might be our best bet." She placed her hands on the stones and narrowed her eyes in concentration, "let's hope this works." She seemed to pray as Fai suddenly felt the gathering of a foreign energy underneath her palms.

This energy felt just like the one he had felt coming from her back in Citadel as she had struggled with those pieces of coal and twisted metal…was it possible that she was- the ground rumbled again, drawing Fai's attention to the roof cracking and giving way.

"Maddy-chan, watch out!" he cried, Xahra dropping from his grip even as he raced towards the brunette. He knew he would never make it in time as he saw amber eyes look up towards the falling rocks before her gaze shot towards him, pupils dilating in fear even as her body remained frozen in place. _Too soon, this is too soon! _His mind screamed at him, the distance between him and the brunette seemingly stretching out for miles, the rocks falling, falling, falling and then, suddenly, they were all suspended in mid-air, merely a foot away from Madiha as Fai finally reached her and pulled her body out of harm's way. In his haste to get her away, he didn't really see where he was grabbing her. Madiha's balance was completely thrown off and she ended up grabbing his hair to right herself.

"Owie… Leave the hair-pulling for the bedroom, Maddy-chan."The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, but in hindsight, maybe it was a good thing since the moments it took for the girl to comprehend the meaning behind what he had said was all the time he had to conceal the pure terror he was sure she would have seen on his face otherwise.

"I'd have thanked you for saving my life," screeched the brunette as she stomped her foot in anger, "but you are just too…"

"Irresistible?" he waggled his brows suggestively.

"Infuriating!" she screamed before she saw something behind him and paled. "Xahra!" she cried, running towards the girl who now lay unmoving on the cold stone floor. Hurrying over towards her, he checked for a pulse, letting out a sigh of relief when he felt it beating strong underneath her skin.

"She's just unconscious." He assured her, frowning at the water that suddenly seemed to be flooding the corridor. Picking up the girl, he turned to Madiha, "I think you should try what you were doing again. It appears as though the mechanism holding back the water has given way. This whole building will flood in a matter of minutes. We need to get out as fast as possible."

Giving him a curt nod, Madiha returned to her spot next to the fallen rocks, her eyes closing in concentration once more as the foreign energy gathered underneath her hands. Fai's attention, however, was drawn towards the unconscious girl in his arms. The rocks had frozen in mid-air through magic moments before they could have crushed Madiha, yet he knew he had not used any. The power had come from Xahra and even now, he could feel it sluggishly coursing through her body, concentrating near her exposed back. He had never sensed anything extraordinary from her before, but now… she had magic. Xahra had magic that she had subconsciously used to protect her friend, though her body obviously was not used to the strain using magic put on it, since she had passed out. Although…maybe her fever had a hand in that too...but still, she was using it even now to heal her injury and slowly but surely, Fai could even feel the drop in her body temperature as the magic seemed to cure her of her disease as well…

-0-

Sakura followed after Syaoran as he hurriedly pulled her through the twisting tunnels. She wasn't sure why she never questioned him or why she put so much faith in him, but something deep inside her pushed her to believe in the boy. He had done so much for her. She had no idea where she might have been by now had he not been around to help her. She might never have regained her precious memories without him. She did not know why he was doing all that he was, but…she felt something like fondness for the boy developing in her heart, only this emotion was a lot more precious. Before she could think any further on it, though, she was being forced to a halt as the roof caved in in front of them.

"There's another passage, leading-"

"I won't let you get away this time!" the doctor's angry declaration cut off Syaoran's words, causing both teens to whirl around.

"Hime, head back the way we came and take a left, there's a passage that should lead you to the surface," Syaoran said, giving her a gentle push to one side as he took up a fighting stance. "I'll keep him distracted."

Sakura took a hesitant step away from him but felt her heart give a painful squeeze at the thought of having to leave him down there all alone. What if he didn't make it out?!

"No!" she cried, latching on to his arm, "I'm not leaving you here."

"But Sakura-hime…" he began, only to be interrupted by the manic-looking doctor once again as he began to advance towards them, knife raised and eyes completely crazed.

"That feather is mine! Now give it to me!" he screamed, rushing through the rising water towards them.

_There is another passage back here! _Emeraude's ghost said urgently as she pointed to the wall on Sakura's right. _It can lead you to the surface._

Letting go of Syaoran, she hurriedly pushed against the wall, "Princess Emeraude said there is a door here." She told the brunette, the water waist deep around them by now. The doctor was nearly upon them and though the stone wall gave way just a little, it wasn't enough to open the path for them. Gently pushing Sakura aside, the boy threw a powerful kick at the wall, the structure giving way in a heartbeat. Before either of them could even yell out a warning, the water was suddenly rushing out into the passageway, dragging them both along with it even as Sakura heard the doctor's scream and the crashing stones behind them.

-0-

Kurogane wanted to turn around and help dig out the kid when the moron suggested it, but remembering the brunette's determination in the past worlds, he realized the kid might be long gone by the time they got through to the other side. It would be best to just get out and wait for those two there. He was determined enough to pull this thing off. Not to mention Kurogane had seen him memorize the layout of the entire castle, so he probably would find some other way out of the tunnels. Telling the moron as much, he helped the landlord and the others lead the children down the corridors.

A brilliant flash of blue lit up the corridor a little ways ahead of them before Fai and Madiha came tumbling into the main corridor, the former carrying an unconscious Xahra. The trio raced ahead of them as the water continued to climb higher. Helping the children get across the river using the stones took quite a while but they eventually managed. Once everyone had gotten across, they turned back to look at the castle. There was no sign of the kid or the princess and the loud moron suddenly started to care about their well-being as he worriedly claimed about them taking too long. Kurogane wasn't too worried, though, for he knew the kid would come through.

But as minutes seemed to tick by without any sign of them having made it out as the water in the river began to climb higher, slowly covering the stones, worry gnawed at his heart as he shot a glance towards the mage and the girl but they both were staring at the castle as though trying to get the kids to appear there through their willpower alone. The girl was seated on the ground, resting Xahra's head in her lap.

"Are you sure they will make it?" the loud moron asked for the hundredth time.

A loud splash answered the question for him as Kurogane's gaze fell on the sputtering forms of the kid and the princess. Both of them looked exhausted, though it was mainly the boy pulling the princess along and across the water.

"They made it!" Madiha cried happily from her friend's side, stating the obvious even as Kurogane offered the kid a hand to pull him out. They both shuddered violently as the winter air nipped at their exposed bodies, the wet clothes making it even worse. Shrugging off his coat, Kurogane draped it around the kids' shoulders.

"What happened to the doctor?" he questioned the kid.

"I'm n-not s-sure," he said through chattering teeth, "h-he didn't c-come af-ter us..."

"So he probably got buried under the castle, then…" frowned the mage.

"Pity."Madiha spat fiercely, not at all looking sorry that the man could be dead. "I would have liked to hit him in his stupid face for what he put everyone through. And whatever it was that he did to Xahra."

"H-He s-said," the princess hastened to correct the brunette, shivering just as badly as the kid, "th-that it w-was Sil-Silver th-that h-hurt her." Before Madiha could say something in response to that, however, the princess's attention was drawn to an empty space, her face taking on a look of something like relief before it turned to shock as the ice around the feather melted and it was absorbed by her body, the girl dropping like a sack of potatoes. A very _wet_ sack of potatoes at that.

-0-

She woke up feeling warm and much lighter than she had felt ever before. A soft, tingling sensation flowed through her entire body, feeling a little strange but not as completely as alien as it should have felt. In fact, it felt more like a part of her that had been shut away for so long was suddenly free. It was a nice, fuzzy sort of feeling, all warm and comforting. Pushing off the covers from her body, she sat up in bed, looking around her in confusion for a minute as she tried to recall where she was. Maddy was asleep next to her bed, head resting on the sheets with her arms folded underneath to function as a makeshift pillow. Sakura was sleeping in her own bed, softly snoring away with Mokona bundled up right next to her face. She smiled softly at the peaceful image those two presented before turning her attention back to observing her surroundings.

After nearly another minute of thinking back and failing to remember what happened, everything slammed into her with the force of a speeding bullet train. Eyes going wide as dinner plates, she gingerly reached for her back with a shaky hand, her breath speeding up as her fingers touched the torn fabric of her dress. She remembered the blood boiling in her veins as her screams reverberated all around her while Silver stood watching over her writhing body.

"Xahra?" She heard Madiha mumble sleepily past the pounding of blood inside her ears. "Hey, Xahra, calm down."Maddy shot up, grabbing her by the arms to make the raven-head face her. "It's okay, you're safe now. We found you. It's alright."

"S-Silver…Silver was there!" she gasped shakily. "And she...she did something…"

"What did she do?" Madiha asked urgently.

"I don't know." She replied, an eerie sort of calm overcoming her. "She did something to my back."

"You were bleeding when we found you," the brunette nodded, looking somewhat pleased that her friend was not panicking anymore, "but your back was healed by the time we got you out of the castle. Dr. Jekyll was working with her." She added, "He hypnotized you to go to the castle with all the children. Probably because Silver asked him to do it."

"Maddy-san? Xahra-san?" Sakura chose that moment to wake up, rubbing sleepily at her eyes as Mokona hopped off the bed declaring it would fetch their male companions. The little critter was probably only pretending to be asleep the whole time.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Maddy waved at the girl who worriedly bit her lip. "Something wrong?"

A knock sounded on their door before she could answer, Fai stepping in, followed by Syaoran and Kurogane, Mokona perched on the latter's shoulder as the door swung closed behind them.

"Mokona said all the girls were awake." Fai explained with a happy grin. "How are you feeling, Sakura-chan, Xahra-chan?"

"I'm good." Xahra said, giving them a thumbs-up while Syaoran hurried over to the princess's side.

"I'm okay, Fai-san," the girl nodded with a tiny smile before looking worriedly at Syaoran, "Before she gave me my feather, Princess Emeraude told me that people are spying on us and that only one of the watchers means us no harm. I need to speak with her again!"

"We should probably leave after that," Kurogane spoke up, "if we're being watched, it would be best to stay on the move."

"Yeah," Maddy agreed, "Silver managed to follow us here from Citadel, so that might be a good idea."

"Mokona, are there anymore of the princess's feathers in this world?" Syaoran turned to the dimension hopper.

"Mokona does not sense anything else." The creature replied with a tiny shake, its rabbit-like ears swinging this way and that.

"Then we should-" Syaoran started only to be cut off by the princess.

"Syaoran-kun, wait! The people of this country, they don't know the truth about what really happened three hundred years ago." Sakura said worriedly, "The princess asked me to tell them her tale."

"But we will be delayed that way." Kurogane pointed out.

"Not to mention they'll want to know how you know this story in the first place," Maddy pointed out. "Speaking of which…How _do_ you know?"

"Sakura-hime can speak with the spirits of those who have passed away." Syaoran answered for the girl.

"Maybe we could write everything down for them in a letter and leave it with the book we borrowed from them," Fai suggested all of a sudden. "We _are_ supposed to be researching old legends, as far as these people know. Syaoran-kun can read this world's language so he can write out the story as Sakura-chan tells it. Then we can pack our belongings and head out for the castle when no one else is looking."

"Why leave like thieves?" Kurogane grunted in distaste.

"Because then we can all appear dark and mysterious like Kuro-tan~" sang the magician in response, causing Sakura and Xahra to burst into laughter as the ninja began chasing after the blond, Syaoran looking on with an exasperated smile while Madiha could only shake her head at their antics.

-0-

Long after the sun had gone down and the travelers had left the world through the dimension hopper, a dark figure crawled out from underneath the decimated remains of the castle, heels clacking against the ground damped by the snow as a woman approached the place.

"You _could_ have saved me, you know," the man grumbled as he climbed to his feet and brushed some dirt from his coat, although considering its torn and muddy state, the action was useless.

"I suppose I could have," the woman replied carelessly, picking at her sleeve, silver hair gleaming in what little light the moon could offer that night.

"And yet you let me nearly die in there." He complained angrily, shivering in the cold air, cursing rather explosively when he stubbed his toe on a rock.

"Easy there, Dr. Jekyll," the woman smirked, "Yell any louder and I'm sure the villagers will come running with their pitchforks and torches."

"So they got the feather after all." Dr. Jekyll said instead. "I suppose it could not be helped. Did you get what you wanted?"

"Yes," the woman smirked in satisfaction, waving her hand to open a slit in the very fabric of space and time, "although I must say, if you had not wasted your time monologing away, you might have actually gotten the feather this time around." Stepping inside, she continued, "But you've become rather fond of monologues, haven't you, Kyle? Did you give them a different name because you were afraid someone might remember?"

"Monologing is an art not many can appreciate," the man, now dubbed as Kyle, sniffed haughtily, "I _was _afraid they might remember and…" he paused, stepping through the rip to the other side and appearing in a high-ceilinged corridor, the roof held up by magnificent pillars carved out of black marble and inlaid with crimsons stones."I've always wanted to say my name was Dr. Jekyll. Has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you say?"

"Whatever you say, Rondart." Silver sighed with a shake of her head, "Whatever you say. I suppose it's time we reported to the Master and _you_ can tell him all about how you let the feather get away, _again!"_

"Calm down, Silver," Kyle replied with a careless shrug of his shoulder, "So what if we didn't get the feather this time? There will be plenty of chances that have yet to come. Not to mention the fact that what cannot be obtained easily only increases its worth in the Master's eyes. And besides, I'm sure he already has the next move planned out for the witch. After all, things are going to be very different this time."

"Yes," the demon nodded, her gaze flickering towards a pair of closed doors for the briefest of moments before they walked past it, "there is also that third Chess Master just waiting for a chance to make a move."

**_A/N: And with this chapter, I pronounce Book I finished! *grins*_**

**_Any guesses on who this third Chess Master could be? And why is Silver so interested in Xahra? Will Maddy ever be able to get Fai to stop flirting with her? And will Kuro survive the surprises awaiting him in the next world?_**


	24. Note: Part two is up

**_Note: Alrighty guys. I just put this little note up here to tell you guys that the prologue for Full Circle Book II is finally up. If you don't wanna miss out on the gang's adventures, go check it out and don't forget to put it to your alerts ;) ;) oh and reviews. Every author loves reviews so give me your feedback. _**


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